Pink Santa Shaker Card

This card was made with mostly washi tape, and a little

bit of patterned paper. 

Made the Santa shaker circle then glued it to the card. 

I know its pink, but pink for Christmas is growing on me! 

Oh my goodness I can't believe that today is the last

day of November. This month flew by!!! 

So what happened on this day in history?

Lucy and Desi Arnaz were married in 1940.

 

They were married for 20 years. 

 

In 1982 Michael Jackson's Thriller was released.

 

In 1835 Mark Twain was born. 

 

In 2007 Evel Knievel died. 

 

and today is National Stay at Home Because you are Well Day. 

 

If I was still working I think I would take the day off. Still cold

 

out as well as being slippery. Warmed up just enough today to 

 

melt the snow a bit, and of course there is still ice on the pavement. 

 

Stamping trails

Karen 

 

 

 

 

Received my first Christmas Card

Received my first Christmas card of the season, and

 

it is from my crafty friend Marianne. 

 

So pretty. Love all the stitching. 

 

 

 

Side view so you can see the three layers she did on the main image. 

 

Always feels like the Christmas season is here when you receive that

 

first card in the mail. 

 

Still very cold here. More like January weather than November. 

 

I've been tunneling in like the bears, and just keeping warm. 

 

Stamping trails

Karen 

More Pink for Christmas

Back with more pink for Christmas. 

This is a skinny card. Sized at 3x5, and is a bit

larger than the artist trading card I posted yesterday. 

I used Lovely as a Tree stamp set to stamp the 

pink trees in the background. I must say that for all

the years I've owned this set I never thought at any time

I'd be inking those trees up with pink! 

And speaking of things that are pink....look at what I found....

This is my autograph book that I had when I graduated from 6th grade. 

Can you believe that! 

Autograph from my 4th grade teacher. She was the best! She got

me started to playing the violin.

and my 5th grade teacher who I'm ashamed to say was my first crush. 

Really enjoyed going through the book and reading all the notes from 

old friends. We all wrote in our best cursive. Do they even teach that

to kids anymore? 

Stamping trails

Karen 

I'm Dreaming of a Pink Christmas?

Well I could blame my crafty friend Kathleen for

my love of pink this month, or I could blame myself

cause after all I'm the one who has a Barbie tree that has

a lot of pink in it. 

Either way I'm loving this paper pack I got from Michael's called

Sugar Blush. It is so pink!!!!!

Made this little artist trading card to swap. 

The tree shape was cut twice then layered to

give it a 3 D effect. 

The little gold star on top of the tree came from ms. Sparkle and Co. 

Found them at JoAnn's. Thankful now I picked up several packs of them. They

are great for holiday projects. 

I'm feeling a bit better today. I'm still sore, but I'm thinking I will recover. 

We got some snow last night. Not much about an inch and a half. Just

enough to make it look like a White Christmas. I'm sure with getting snow

early this season that we won't have any for Christmas. We will see. 

Stamping trails

Karen

Oh No I Fell, and the Tree

The tree is up. Actually it was up on Friday. 

Funny thing happened to me on the way to Betty's yesterday. 

I was stepping off the step leading into our garage. 

My cat was running in, and I tripped over her. 

Don't worry the cat is fine. I however landed

on both knees on the hard garage floor. Don't

think I damaged the knee replacements, but I'm 

so sore. I must have twisted my left foot a bit went I landed

as it, and the back of my leg hurts. Will be taking it easy today. 

Mickey, and Minnie ornaments. You can also see

one of the ornaments that my mom, and dad had on their first

Christmas tree. I have several of the mercury ornaments. I hang

them high on the tree so kitty won't mess with them. 

Here we have the Christmas gecko. When we lived on Guam a 

larger gecko leaped into the top of our tree. It hit the tree top so hard

it shook the tree. So to keep that memory I made this stuffed gecko. He 

has found a place on the tree since 1992. 

Paper angel my friend Kathleen made me last year. 

Daytime view of the tree. 

The tree skirt was made by Sarah. That large stocking in the back

was part of a swap I was in years, and years ago. I used the angel for the topper this

year. Hubby likes the star topper better, but I thought the blue angel went

better with the skirt, and stocking. 

Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with some artwork. Not sure if I will be 

stamping today or not. 

Stamping trails

Karen

Fun ATC

I haven't been crafting anything the past few days. 

Been busy with cooking for Thanksgiving, and putting up the 

tree. I'll be posting photos of the tree tomorrow. 

This is a swap I received last week. The swap was just for an

artist trading card, but she sent me way more than that. 

Love the card, and the little bag that holds mini candy bars. 

I also received this adorable Winnie the Pooh stamp from my

crafting buddy Kat. Love the "vintage" Pooh. 

I'll be heading out soon to visit Betty. Going to spend the afternoon

crafting. I need a break from my house! 

Stamping trails

Karen

Happy Birthday Sarah

Had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the kids.

 

Here my favorite girls Sarah, and Emily. 

 

They are both just beautiful young ladies. 

 

Today is Sarah's birthday. We celebrated yesterday as

 

she has to work today. Poor baby is still in her

 

90 day probation period for her new job, and couldn't take the day off. 

 

 

Emily sent me this photo she took of John with our

 

cat Cherokee. Now don't they look comfortable? 

 

Em and John started helping us put up the tree last night.

 

We got as far as the lights. Then settled in for a movie. 

 

Me and hubby will finish the decorations today. 

 

As for Black Friday shopping.....not doing it! 

 

Stamping trails

Karen 

 

Turkey Napkin Folding.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Last night I folded paper napkins to 

look like turkeys. Each one take

two napkins. One to make the bird body, and

the other to make the wings.

The table isn't fully set, but I wanted to at

least  get a pic of the turkeys up on my blog. 

Yesterday I received this cute little turkey skinny card

from Lynn. Perfect for the holiday. 

Gotta run because I have a turkey to tend to. 

Gobble, gobble trails

Karen

Christmas Advent Pocket Letter from Rosalie

I joined an advent calendar swap back in October. 

This one  required three pocket letters with

each pocket labeled with numbers 1 through 25. 

I received my swap from Rosalie yesterday. 

Like how she sealed the pockets closed with washi tape. 

Here is how the back looks with the envelopes filled with goodies

for me to open each day. How fun! 

Here is the second pocket letter 10 through 18.

Back of the second letter.

And the last one 19 through 25. The two

extra pockets were also decorated.

and the back. I'm sure I'll have fun

opening up the envelopes with goodies inside during the month of December. 

Today I need to start my food prep for the big turkey dinner. Also

have an Optimist meeting tonight. Going to be another

cold day here. Even colder on Thanksgiving. Good thing I'll be

cooking a turkey. The kitchen should be nice and toasty! 

Stamping trails

Karen

Thanksgiving Artist Trading Cards

Received this lovely card from Dara

yesterday. 

She also made me a Thanksgiving artist trading card. 

I really love the colors, and the glittery background. 

This swap was made by Lois. 

That turkey is really cute in that pot! Love

his chef hat. 

and this swap came from Tina. Lots of turkey artist trading cards!

All I can say is I hope that my real turkey I make on 

Thanksgiving comes out as great as these cards did! 

Stamping trails

Karen

Christmas Washi Tape Swap

Finished up the last of my Christmas swaps. 

All done. No more swaps will I join till the New Year. 

Yes you heard me correctly. I'm not going to have the time

during December. 

So anyway....this is a washi tape swap. Had to present

5 different washi tapes. 

I stamped artist sized trading cards then ran them through the

Xyron machine so I could wrap the tape around them. 

Found this great assortment of Christmas Plaid tape. 

Great deal at Tuesday Morning for 3.99 for a package of eight. 

Today I'll be doing some housework. Need to get the place cleaned up

for the holidays. I'll be cleaning up the craft room, and putting all the toys

away. I'll still be stamping as I have to get together with Eliz to make

thank you cards. Also doing some type of favors for the business appreciation event. 

Both will be for the Optimist club. 

Planned a cookie baking day at my house. Having some family and friends

come over for a baking day. That is always a fun time! Getting

excited about Christmas. We got a little bit of snow yesterday. Not much

just a dusting, but it is really setting the mood! 

Stamping trails

Karen

Kitty Taking a Long Winter's Catnap

This is one design I'm playing with for the December

artist trading card swap. 

I saw a gift tag in a package of tags at Walmart. The 

cat on the tag was on it's back with it's front paws over it's

head. Didn't have a stamp like that, but I remembered 

that I did have this sleeping kitty in a flower pot. 

Kitty was stamped with black on cream card stock. Then cut out,

and popped up over the pot. This allowed me to 

slide the candy cane under kitty's paw. 

I watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas last night, and

saw Cindy Lou Who (who was no more than two) sleeping with the

candy cane in her hand. 

Way to early for Christmas shows, but here I am watching them anyway! 

 Stamping trails

Karen

Just another Merry Tag

Back with another Merry project. 

Love this stamp set made by Julie Nutting. 

The patterned paper used is called Say Freeze. 

Picked it up at Michael's. 

The girl's dress was colored with hot pink Prisma pencil.

I added the dots using a white gel pen. 

Added a bow at the top of the ornament. 

The ribbon was being stubborn, so I had to use 

a few mini glue dots to get it in the position I wanted. 

I'm not a big fan of using ribbon, but every once in a while it

really works well on a project. 

 

 

Here is the view of my backyard yesterday morning. 

 

We had a little bit of an ice storm. Medina was hit worse than Brunswick. 

 

The branches were so heavy with ice that the limbs were breaking. Old Man

 

Winter showed up early for work this season! 

 

I have some running around to do today. Need to hit the post office, wrap

 

Sarah's birthday gift, make her card, head over to Hollo's, and while I'm out

 

just for good measure I think I'll stop by Khols....and since Khols is right next to 

 

Hobby Lobby....you get where I'm going here....right? 

 

Stamping trails

Karen 

Merry done with Shrink Plastic

I was playing with shrink plastic yesterday morning.

You can see how large this rubber stamp is. 

After stamping on the plastic, and coloring. I

shrunk down the doll using a heat tool. 

Look how tiny! Love how the colors get more intense after

the shrinking process. The image was colored with Primsa pencils. I also

added some clear Wink of Stella to the collar, cuffs, and hair bow.

I added a jump ring at the top of the doll, and

attached her to a little bag. So cute! 

Stamping trails

Karen

Santa's Little Helper ATC

Still finishing up on some Christmas swaps I signed up for. 

This artist trading card has two different stamps that

I combined. 

The latte cup, and saying is on a single stamp that I picked

up at Michael's last year. 

The girl is from a stampabilities set called Oh Elle. 

I thought they worked well together. 

Using the same stamps I made this "skinny" card which

is a bit bigger at 3x5. 

I love this gold and white washi tape! Got a stack of 

it at Michael's last year on clearance made by Recollections. 

So pretty. 

I have some running around to do this afternoon. I'll be

doing the scrapbooking for the Optimist club so I'm 

in need of a large scrapbook. Good thing I love to hit the

craft stores! 

Stamping trails

Karen

Decked out Gorjuss Girls

So my friend Kym sent me these two Gorjuss girls,

and asked me to dress them up for Christmas. 

All I added was the latte cup, sign, and hat for the

girl on the left. The other girl also has a Santa hat, package,

and candy cane. I added dots, and stripes to the scarves also

added some Wink of Stella, to the hats, and bottom trim on the dresses. 

I thought they came out cute! 

Me and Betty went to see The Nutcracker and the 4 Realms yesterday.

Very good movie. Put me in the holiday mood! 

This morning I bundled up, and took a walk to Marc's. Didn't need

anything just wanted to take a walk. There was even a few flakes of

snow falling. For the rest of the day I'm working on some swaps I

really need to finish up. Can't believe November is half over! 

Stamping trails

Karen

Three Pocket Letter Advent Swap

I joined an advent pocket letter swap with the 

Swappers Corner FB group. 

Three pocket letters that had to have the numbers 1 through 25 on them. 

I just didn't want my partner to have the three pocket letters without

presenting them in some way.

So I got a 3/4 binder, and used some of the same paper to decorate the covers.

 

Lets look inside. 

On the inside I added some festive things that my partner could use. 

I found this Christmas Graphic 45 paper pack at Hollo's, and knew

it would be perfect as it had two sheets of paper that had the numbers 1 -25. 

To hold the goodies for each pocket I used a small envelope that

I also colored, and stamped. 

This is the second pocket letter number 10 through 18. 

and the last one. Numbered 19-25. Since the pocket letters have

9 pockets each there were two of them left over. I expanded number

25 to take up two pockets, then I just decorated the last pocket. 

I think it turned out adorable! Hope my partner likes it. 

Have to get this in the post this week. 

Stamping trails

Karen