Alpha Stamps Giveaway

As you probably know, Alpha Stamps is a wonderful site full of gorgeous images, beautiful embellishments, charms, stamps, Dresden foils and so much more. Well, starting today they're having a post-holiday sale and a daily giveaway. Take a look at the Alpha Stamps site...there's lots of new things to temp you and go on over to the blog and enter the giveaway!

4 x 4's

I've been working on some 4x4's for three of the gals at Follow Your Bliss. One has had surgery, one moved into a new home and another is a fellow nurse whose husband was recently laid off. Mary Ann is going to include these in a 4x4 book for each of them. I know that would cheer me for sure!

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas surrounded by those you love. May peace, good health and happiness greet you in the New Year!

A Cone Party

For our first Christmas together the "Lunch Ladies" group was invited to Cathy and Jo's house for a Cone Party. We had a delicious lunch then spent the afternoon making cones, also known as tussie mussies. A tussie mussie is a small bouquet of flowers or a nosegay. The name can also refer to the cone-shaped holder of such a bouquet. If you do an internet search you'll find that tussie mussies have become very popular with crafters and there are all sorts of tussie mussies out there to look at from sweet pink versions for Valentine's Day to spooky ones for Halloween. We had such a wonderful time making them! Here are a few photos of Cathy and Jo's home...beautifully decorated for Christmas. It was the perfect backdrop for an afternoon spent creating with friends. Each of the women in the group brought a small gift to exchange. Cathy made each of us a lovely fabric covered cone. Jo made gorgeous Japanese Temari balls. Grace gave each of us some of her watercolor cards and a sweet altered matchbox. Miki made wonderful three dimensional ATCs and Lyneen gave each of us a cute Chinese takeout container filled with lace and trims and baubles. Nothing like a little early Christmas cheer!

Giveaway

Susan Tuttle is having a giveaway for her new book Exhibition 36: Mixed Media Demonstrations + Explorations. 36 mixed media artists share their work throughout the pages and offer insights along with techniques for their projects. You can take a look at the book and read reviews here. And you can enter the giveaway on Susan's blog here. I just saw this book at Barnes & Noble the other night and added it to my Christmas wish list!

Red Lead Charm Swap

My charms from the November swap at Red Lead came today and they are SO sweet! I received charms this time from Susie, Chris and Kathy. Susie made the quilted square charm...isn't it cute? Kathy made the dangling charm with the vintage image...love it! And Chris made the faux resin charm pendant. I actually got to watch Chris make some of these when I went out to Red Lead in October...I feel so lucky to own one now! Thank you ladies...I love the charms! And look at the little box of goodies that came with the charms! Here's the charm I made for the swap...it's a chipboard and mica charm using the adorable Red Lead pixie stamp. This has got to be one of the sweetest stamps ever! We're not trading charms in January...it'll be altered dominoes...can't wait!

Snow People

I was so inspired by this article in Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine and by Tami B. of Dapple Designs that I had to try making my own group of snow people! I thought they'd be the perfect small gift to give each of the women in my monthly lunch group. It was amazing how each one developed its own personality as I added different pieces to the bottles and how it became clear just which bottle would go to each person. I even made one for myself and the minute I stuck in that red hat pin I new that one had to be mine! This was such a fun project and the instructions in the article are very easy to follow...plus I got to play with glitter...who doesn't love that?! Here are a few photos showing the bottles' transformation. Now, don't you want to go make some snow people of your own?

Ornament Swaps

I love making ornaments! This year I've taken part in two ornament swaps. The first one is is for the Winter Whimsy Mitten swap (the mitten, of course!) and the second (the vintage tin) is for the Red Lead Paperworks swap. Both of these were lots of fun to make. There's a wonderful tutorial on The Feathered Nest for the mitten ornament. Be sure to check out this site when you can sit down with a cup of tea and a few hours to spare...it's full of beautiful things. Dawn graciously shares many of her images and tutorials and presents everything is such a gorgeous way. The second ornament is a vintage tart tin with one of Red Lead's sweet collage images. I colored the image and then used some Crackle Accents to further age it. These have just flown the coop so I'll be sure to post photos of the ornaments I receive in return.

Vintage Veranda Challenges

Here are two pieces I made in response to challenges on the Vintage Veranda. The first challenge was to use an inchie to create an ATC then use the ATC in a card. I'm still learning to work with digital kits so I chose to use one of these to make the card. This is a free set called Christmas Blessings offered by CuddleBeez Scraps. Be sure to check out her site...she is very generous with her freebies! The second challenge was to make a vintage tag. I've used one of the Jenni Bowlin Christmas Bingo cards in this tag...I just love using them.

November ATC Swaps

Here are two sets of ATC's I received from November swaps. The first set is from the Stampin D'Amour group and the second is from the Red Lead Paperworks group. Aren't they just great? Each card is a small masterpiece! This is the ATC I sent in for the Red Lead swap. I loved the hint of a mile on this woman's face...usually people in these old photos are so stern...but I think her eyes are actually twinkling!

29 Day Giveaway

Chrysti of Art by Chrysti has joined the 29 Days of Giving Challenge and will be having a giveaway on her blog for the next 29 days. The idea behind the challenge is to give something away each day in order to "become a part of the global giving movement that inspires more generosity on our planet." Chrysti has asked everyone to spread the word about the giveaways so that as many people can be touched as possible. Why don't you go have a look?

Holiday Countdown at Ten Two Studios

Well, it's time to start the holiday count down with Lisa Vollrath at Ten Two Studios. Lisa is generously sharing with us again a new holiday image every day! The card here is one of the images from last year so I know you'll want to see what she has in store for us this time. If you're the impatient sort she even has a way to get all the images at once! Be sure to look around Lisa's sites...she has a lot of great info to share along with wonderful collage sheets and printables, project ideas, contests, swaps and more! Start the countdown now and have fun!

Happy Thanksgiving!

4 x 4's

Here are two 4 x 4 pages I made for two separate books. The first is for a "Get Well" book and the second is for a "Cheer Up and Hang in There" book. I'll try and post pictures of the entire books when they're completed. These are two projects headed by Mary Ann at Follow Your Bliss. If you enjoy creating itty bitty books or 4 x4 books take a look...you just might want to join us!

Art Creations Friday

Vintage Wil and some friends have started a new Friday challenge site called Art Creations Friday. Their first challenge was to use this gorgeous image in an art piece of some kind. Be sure to stop by to join in the challenge or just to take a look at all the beautiful creations. Here's mine:

Make a Moo or Two

The theme this week on Make a Moo or Two is Pets. Here's mine...what kind of pet lover are you? Be sure to take a look at all the moos here!

Treats from Linda S.

My sweet blog friend Linda has sent me the most wonderful little package! She was sending me a pair of her handmade earrings (thank you so much...they're lovely!) but she also included a fun deck of Washington state playing cards and a vintage Avon sheep perfume bottle! I've never seen one of these...it's adorable. Isn't it amazing how someone I've never met in person can know just what I'd love! Thank you Linda...you're the best!

Gothic Arches

The Gothic Arches Challenge site is holding a Yuletide Gothic Arch contest through Saturday. The challenge is to create a gothic arch with a "yuletide" theme. On November 24th the winner will be selected and will receive a lovely sheet of stamps from Sugar Lump Studios called Yuletide Blessings. Be sure to take a look at all the beautiful arches. Here's mine...

Home for the Holidays Swap - Part 2

Well, you've seen what I sent my swap partner Carrie...now you can take a look at what she sent me! She created a gorgeous package all tied up in cellophane and looking like a little snow globe inside. She made some darling things...an adorable pin cushion jar filled with holiday trims and pins, a beautiful hanging card, lovely ornaments and a gift bag with an angel image on it filled with lots of vintage sewing notions...just the kind of things I love! She also included a handsome nutcracker, two shakers filled with glitter (how fun!) and lots of ribbons and pom poms, sequins and shiny bits...just perfect for making some holiday treasures of my own! Thank you Carrie...I just love it!

Home for the Holidays Swap

CuppcakeDD is the host of some wonderful vintage ephemera swaps and I've just had the pleasure of participating in my first one...the Home for the Holidays Swap. I made my swap partner Carrie an ornament and a wall hanger then filled her package with all kinds of vintage Christmas ephemera. I had such fun finding just the right things to include in her package. And I also had fun decorating the mailing box so she could enjoy it from the moment she saw it. Here's a look.

Christmas hanger

I love these vintage Christmas card images. Here's a small hanging card I made for my sister.