Sad sad scans....

of my Christmas Cards....I'm not sure what's up with the coloring of the scans nor do I know how to fix it but you get the idea. My cameras are both on the blink so I didn't get pics of all the different designs - namely my favorites. I used the same basic design and all my scraps from past recipe swaps, layouts and what not. As my list has grown my cards seem to have gotten less and less detailed (read complicated, time consuming, frustrating) but I was pleased with how these came out despite my minimal effort. I mean it should be a joyful time to make Christmas cards for your loved ones and friends; those you may not have spoken to in a while. Anyhow, here are a few:

Paying It Forward...

As promised, I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on this post requesting to join this Pay it Forward Exchange. Not sure what you'll be getting as my brain is flooded with ideas and you may not receive it next week, but you will receive it within the New Year :)

The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. So basically, if you comment, you’re on. I’ll send you something crafty that I’ll make for you. Once you sign up, copy and paste the above paragraph on your blog, and three other lucky people will be recipients of your handmade work. I got mine from a great new blog I just found. This is a positive way to start off the New Year. Awesome of you ladies to have started this act of kindness.

Wow - a whole month!!!

It's been a while since I posted....not sure if anyone reads it but I'll humor myself into thinking so.... I've been working like crazy to get caught up on my swaps and here comes Christmas just around the bend. I have lots of projects and my deadlines are strange this year. Here's praying I get it all done. Some stuff I can't post just yet on the off chance a recipient might be reading but once they've gotten the gift I'll let ya see it!

Here are a few swap cards:

The first is a fall card and my inspiration came from some Mother's Day transparency shaker pockets. The person who made them had sewn transparencies into pockets with cute little flowers inside but I never made it to the sewing part. I did my best with the envelope LOL. I glued the tree up top so you could get the true fall effect.



The second is a shabby chic card where I supposed to use TAC stamps but I forgot and used SU....this set matched so well I guess I got sidetracked. I inked a CTMH chipboard buckle in the ruby red to match the stamped image. I used the melon ribbon b/c it matched some of the text on the friendship paper.



On the last card I FINALLY used my QK balloon die. I wish I had positioned them differently and maybe got 3 instead of 2 but I'd already stamped my happy birthday....love these stamps by the way! I bought the CTMH set that has nothing but Happy Birthday sentiments and this one is long and skinny so you can form it any way you like.




All this paper Lisa G gave me from her slab who knows how long ago. I've really been on a mission to use what I have and stop buying so much. It really put it in perspective for me just how much stuff I've got when I put it all in my scrap rack... That's all for now but I will have more soon :)

Musical Scrapping anyone?

A friend of ours made the best game suggestion for the retreat - Musical Scrapping. Everyone puts together a kit with photos and each participant gets 5 SHORT minutes with your layout. I chose some skiing pics from over 5 years ago that I never could get motivated to scrap. I felt bad that I threw in very few embellishments but look how nice it turned out:



I noticed someone else's brads were used b/c I forgot to even include any with my snowflakes!! Thanks Yvette! I think they were hers anyhow...

Blast from the past!

I was moving some photos around just now - a little computer housekeeping if you will and I found a this old pic:




I made this for a swap I was in with people from other countries...there was some criteria you had to meet and one was a handmade embellishment. I took a page protector and cut out the bottle shape, placed the sticker inside and sealed it. I cut the "stopper" from some cork I had and made the label from paper and a monogram sticker. Not too shabby for only 2 years into scrapping if I do say so myself!!!