Happy Birthday TO ME!

YIPPEEEE SKIPEEEE! 
It's my Birthday today!

Here are the last of my calendar pages...

Happy New Year!

OCL Challenge #98...Photo Inspiration

Friday means it's time for the OCL Weekly Challenge.  Look at this STUNNING photo for our inspiration.

I decided to go a different route for the challenge today ~ still use snow as the challenge but not in the elegant way this photo suggests.  I used the super cute snowman and snowflakes from the Tweet Winter Wishes stamp set and made these fun little containers of CHILL PILLS!  I made the tags on the computer and used containers of white Tic Tac mints.  I little bit of Sugar Sparkly Fluff really makes the snowman look CHILLY! 

Now it's your turn to play along.  Add your link to the OCL Blog post today for a chance to win a gift certificate from Our Craft Lounge.

Calendar Pages ... part 3

I love scrapbooking.  I've taken shortcuts the last few years & decided to make actual pages again. I used a calendar kit from Basic Grey this year.

ok...one more day after this and you'll have seen all the pages.

More Calendar Pages...

Hope you don't mind seeing a little bit of scrapbooking this week. 

Here are more calendar pages from our 2012 Family Calendar.

Gourmet Rubber Stamps ... January Preview Day!

How's about a peek?  Here's a pretty little project using the new Diners Club set for January from Gourmet Rubber Stamps?   The background, the LOVE sentiment and the heart are all part of the pretty little set called Sealed with A Kiss.

I know you won't want to miss seeing what the other girls have come up with. 

GRS Blog
Deb Felts
Jeni Allen
Joslyn Nielson
Joy Stagg
Kelli Palmer
Kendra Wietstock ~ you're here
Pam Hornschu
Rose Ann Reynolds
Taylor Usry

Calendar Pages for our 2012 Family Calendar...

I'm taking part of this week off from blogging new creations, but thought I would still share some of the calendar pages I made for our 2012 Family Calendar.  I make these each year as gifts for the grandparents & they love them.  For this year's calendar, I used pictures from our Alaska trip last summer.

I'll be back tomorrow with a preview of the new Gourmet Rubber Stamps Diners Club set for January ~ you won't want to miss it!

one tiny baby...

a baby really does change everything...

merry Christmas!

A few more Christmas goodies...

I found these unblogged cards in my folder the other day & thought I'd share them with you today.  I'm totally cracking up because I must have been doing this first card really fast ~ take a look at the sentiment...  LOL!  I used three of the new singles on this card ~ Mr Frosty, Mrs Frosty & Frosty Flakes. 

And here's one I made for some store samples... I used the Merry & Bright and Parka Penguins sets.

Have a VERY Merry Christmas!

OCL Challenge #97...Sketch Time

Today is gonna be short and sweet because I've got soooooo much to do!  But, it's Friday and that means that it's challenge day on the OCL Blog!   Today it's a sketch ...

And here's my card for the sketch!  I used the Penguin Fun stamp set and added some Rockin' Pink Sparkly Fluff on the penguins hat and ear muffs.

Have a great Friday!!!

Teacher Gifts ...

So here's how the conversation started...
Matt: "Hey Mom, did you make any teacher gifts this year?"

Me: "Nope!  You have too many teachers now."

Matt: "Can you make a few for me?"

Me: "How many?"

Matt: "I just need 4."
Me: "OK"

Fast forward ... 30 minutes later...

Matt: "Actually Mom, could you add 3 more?"
Megan: "How about the band directors at the high school?"
then a call from a friend who needs some help with gift & a small gift for my mail carrier...

Here we are...16 gifts later...LOL!

Here are my Cocoa To Go Cups ~ LOVE THEM!  Now before you ask, I found these snowman cups at Target last year & I couldn't find them this year.  Thankfully, I had an entire package of 10 cups left over.  Inside the cup ~ a Cocoa packet, Hershey Kisses, a bag of marshmellows, and a Curly Cane (Wilton's).

And here is the second design ~ since I needed more cups.

I love how both designs turned out!

more packaging ideas...

... continued from yesterday.  Today's gift idea ~ a pedicure gift certificate!  I didn't want to just give the brochure as a gift, so I stamped bubbles around the edges and tied a tag around it using the fun stamp set called Pretty & Pampered by Our Craft Lounge. 

Here's another look at the glittery, bubbly tag.

One more to make... I'll share later this week.

New Coveralls!

Have you ever noticed that as your kids get older, the gifts get smaller and more expensive?  The kids in my family love to get gift cards for gifts.  However, rather than just stick a gift card under the tree, I like to come up with cool ways to present them.  Yesterday as I was wrapping presents, I came up with this cool jean pocket for a gift card to my daughter's favorite clothing store.  This new Coveralls background stamp called Back Pocket by Gourmet Rubber Stamps is perfect!

The tag on the pocket & the sentiment inside were both made with the Love & Joy labels stamp set and the  Tweens & Teens set.  I also stamped the Back Pocket Coveralls image on the blue mat and on the blue scallop inside the card. 

OK ~ off to wrap more gifts!

Love is in the Air...

Happy Monday!  I know it's the week before Christmas, but I'm tired of making Christmas cards so here's a sweet little card using a new OCL set called Love in the Air. 

Supplies from i{heart}papers:
Stamps ~ Our Craft Lounge (Love in the Air)
Sparkly Fluff ~ Our Craft Lounge (Sugar & That's Hot! Pink)
Pattern Paper ~ My Minds Eye (Love Me)
Copic Markers
Palette Ink

just because {23}...

attitude is everything...

More from OCL's Release...

Brand new from Our Craft Lounge
Every Heartbeat

OCL Sneak Peeks Day #2 & Challenge Day!

Hello ~ Hello!!! 

Welcome to day #2 of our OCL Valentine Release Blog Hop!  We sure loved hearing all of your lovely comments yesterday.  I can tell you REALLY liked the sets and samples we shared with you yesterday.  Well you're in for more treats today!

First up ~ I want to share my OCL weekly challenge project with you.  I managed to make a Christmas project with the new Every Heartbeat set.  I also used the Merry Wishes stamp set for my package too.

The challenge this week is Holiday Gift Giving ~ check out BOTH posts today on the OCL Blog for all the details (we have the regular Friday Challenge post & the Blog Hop post).  

Now on to more blog hop fun!

 Today I have two more projects to show you for the Blog Hop!  My next project uses a fun set called Smooth Sailing.  I paired up this great new set with some fun Valentine paper from My Minds Eye called Love Me.  (Supply list below)

And finally, a fun Gramps project using the new #1 Sports Fan single from this release.   Don't you love his fuzzy {Sparkly Fluff'd} slippers?  I think we need to get a foam finger for Granny too ~ LOL!    (Supply list below)

So that's it for my samples today... but come on back tomorrow for more fun stuff.  Now it's time to check out what the rest of the girls have come up with on their blogs.  Make sure you leave some love on of our DT blogs {listed below} as well as on the OCL Blog & Facebook page because we have some great blog candy to give away.  Comments end tomorrow night (Friday, December 16th at midnight Pacific time). 

OCL Blog
Kendra Wietstock ~ You're here
Lori Tecler
Tammie Edgerton
Broni Holcombe
Debbie Fisher
Carolyn King
Lori Barnett
Debbie Corbari
Lisa Eisner
Stephanie Serrano
Amber Hillman
Meredith Winston
Joy Stagg
Michelle Pearson
Dawn Barrett
Melissa Cash
Latrice Murphy
Deb Felts

Have fun Hopping today ~ I know you'll FALL IN LOVE with our new Valentine release!

Supply List from i{heart}papers

You Float My Boat
Stamps ~ Our Craft Lounge (Smooth Sailing)
Sparkly Fluff ~ Our Craft Lounge (Very Cherry Red)
Pattern Paper ~ My Minds Eye (Love Me)
Ink ~ Palette (Noir)
Copic Markers ~ R81, R83, R85, R39, B91, B93, T1, T3, T5
Nestabilities

#1 Sports Fan
Stamps ~ Our Craft Lounge (#1 Sports Fan)
Sparkly Fluff ~ Our Craft Lounge (Hair: Platinum, Slippers: mix of Appletini Green & Brown Sugar)
Ink ~ Palette (Noir)
Copic Markers ~ E31, E33, E35, E23, E17, E47, E25, E27, E50, E51, E00, T1, T3, YG91, YG93, YG95
Nestabilities

Gourmet Rubber Stamps DT Challenge

When the 15th of the month comes around, it's time for the DT Challenge for Gourmet Rubber Stamps.  Today's challenge uses this very yummy picture as a color challenge ~ don't you just love it?

For my challenge card, I used the December Diners Club set called Let's Celebrate and made this sweet little card with the nesting doll image and matching sentiment.

OCL Sneak Peek Time!

WOOHOOO!  It's sneak peek time for Our Craft Lounge and this time we have some HEART~STOPPING sets to show you for Valentine's Day {or any other LOVE-ly occasion}.   We have 4 new Crafty Clear sets and 6 new Crafty Cling Rubber Singles to share this time.  Today we are going to show you half of them.  You can see the full sets over on the OCL Blog.

My first sample today uses two of the new sets ~ Love in the Air and Every Heartbeat.   I've been wanting a hot air balloon set for the longest time & Debbie Corbari hit it out of the park with this one!  LOVE IT!

My next sample uses the great new border set called Every Heartbeat.  I LOVE THIS SET!!!!  You can do so many cool things with this set.   On this card I stamped the chevron border in six different colors for this great pattern paper.  So easy!  And the cool Thank You sentiment comes with the set too!

I used the Every Heartbeat set on this card too ~ look at the cool border you can do with it.  I just stamped the same image in two different colors.  Then I added the coordinating heart and sentiment from the set to finish off the card.  So easy and super fun!  This set is totally going to surprise you!

So that's it for my samples today... but come on back tomorrow for more fun stuff.  Now it's time to check out what the rest of the girls have come up with on their blogs.  Make sure you leave some love on of our DT blogs {below} as well as on the OCL Blog & Facebook page because we have some great blog candy to give away.  Comments end tomorrow night (Friday, December 16th at midnight Pacific time). 

OCL Blog
Kendra Wietstock ~ You're here
Lori Tecler
Tammie Edgerton
Broni Holcombe
Debbie Fisher
Carolyn King
Lori Barnett
Debbie Corbari
Lisa Eisner
Stephanie Serrano
Amber Hillman
Meredith Winston
Joy Stagg
Michelle Pearson
Dawn Barrett
Melissa Cash
Latrice Murphy
Deb Felts

Have fun Hopping today ~ I know you'll FALL IN LOVE with our new Valentine release!

Season's Greetings...

I'm getting ready for all kinds of fun stuff tomorrow, so this morning I wanted to sit down and make a super quick card using my Season's Greetings 12x12 paper pack by Echo Park.  

I love EP's 12x12 kits because you can do so many things with the pre-made embellishments (stickers, alphabets and journaling cards).  I also used two different Lifestyle Crafts embossing folders for some great texture ~ Polka Dots & the Whimsy 2-pack.  I framed the sticker with a great Nestability die and I added a bit of ribbon, a button and some Twine to finish the look.

Check in tomorrow for our month Gourmet Rubber Stamps Challenge and SNEAK PEEKS from Our Craft Lounge!

Merry Christmas from The Wietstock Family

Whew!  I'm finally finished with my Christmas cards for this year ~ all 80 of them!  This year's card was pretty simple & easy to put together, but I really like how it came out. 

As I was saving the photo of my card, I found our family card from the last 4 years and thought I'd share them again.   First is our card from last year ~ 2010.

Probably my favorite Christmas card that I've ever done was in 2009.  I took individual photos of each of us (including our pets) and put them on the inside panel so you could see it inside and out.  I may have to revisit this idea again!

2008 ~ Here's one with some non-traditional Christmas colors {which I love}.
I really like snowflakes I guess!

2007 ~ a photo from our last trip to Alaska.

I hope you enjoyed my little trip down memory lane ~ Merry Christmas to you.

Sending Warm Wishes...

Happy Monday ~ wow what a weekend!  I spent the entire weekend doing things for Christmas and celebrating my daughter's 16th birthday.   Whew...It was BUSY!  I was so glad I found this card in my stash this morning because I totally forgot to get a blog post ready!

Here we a card we did from my last Stamp-A-Stack class I did at the LSS.  The Our Craft Lounge sets I used were  Mr. Frosty along with Frosty Flakes and a sentiment from Tweet Winter Wishes. 

OK ... off to finish my Christmas cards!  I'll share them soon!

just because {22}...

fyi...

Sew Happy ...

Today I used the Years Gone By stamp set by Our Craft Lounge  along with a journaling box and paper from the Echo Park Times & Seasons scrapbooking kit.  I just stamped my sewing machine in black Palette ink  and added some trim from May Arts. Another quick and easy card.

OCL Challenge #95...CAS Holiday

Welcome to Friday & the weekly OCL Challenge!  Today it's all about making simple Holiday cards.  We can all use a little bit of simple in our lives ~ am I right?

My card uses the Winter Wishes stamp set & let me tell you, it doesn't get much easier than this set.  When you think about making a super quick card ~ this is the set you want!  I simply stamped the image and sentiment in blue ink, trimmed it, added a scallop mat & plopped it on the card base.  Then I added some Stickles to the trees and snowflakes so they would shimmer. 

Now it's your turn to play along!  You might just win a gift certificate to OCL if you do ~ check out the OCL Blog for the details.