~~~

Monday, December 28, 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Happy New Year 2010,anuschkatim
Make your own Glitter Graphics
A Child is Born
Glitter Graphics

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

MMSC33 My Last Card of the Year...Happy New Year!!

I am scheduling this to post, since I will be doing family time when it does hit.  I hope that you all enjoy your hoildays, and stay safe and warm.  Here is my New Year's card for MMSC33.  It was a bit of a challenge, but I think it turned out ok.  I hope that you might find some time to play with us, but if not, hope to see you join us again in the New Year.















Congratulations to the following winners:

Our Gold Star Winner for MMSC32 is:


#13 Teri Sherman



Our Remarkables are:

#20 Sue Drees

#21 Gunn aka Mrs. Plum


OUR MONTHLY BONUS SPONSOR FOR DECEMBER IS.....

Frantic Stamper Inc.



OUR WEEKLY BONUS SPONSOR FOR MMSC33 IS.....

Priscilla of "Priscillastyles"

Priscilla will be providing a stamp set to one lucky winner


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!  Blessings to all!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Sharing Some Holiday Decorations and Spirit With You!

8 more days until Christmas......I think I am finally going to stop decorating and just enjoy the holiday now.  My husband is leaving tonight for his long trip home, and we will see him sometime this weekend.  We plan to have a beautiful family Christmas together and savor the magic of the season.  I thought I would share a few pictures of some of our decorations while wishing all of my blogging friends a wonderful Christmas with their own families.  I am grateful and appreciative of your friendship and support this year and feel very blessed to have met so many wonderful people through my craft and my blogging.  I hope that you will take a few moments in the midst of the holiday festivities to ponder the meaning of Christmas and to let those that mean the most to you know how much you love them. 
Our average-sized Christmas tree decorated mostly by me, but with a few little hands helping out too.  I love really big and full trees, but for now, our house is not big enough for that.  I hope someday soon that we will move to a bigger house and that I can start to display those bigger trees.

Please look at the pretty tree skirt.  We just got this, and I really love it!  It is a Thomas Kinkade scene that is fiber optic.  The tree lights in the scene twinkle, and the houses all light up.  I am just in awe of it!





I put two pics of my fireplace mantle on here.  This first one with the decorations all lit up, but without my additions that I decided on after a few days went by.  I will be changing it again, because I want to get a live poinsettia to put in the middle, so will be rearranging things to allow room for that.




I bought some artificial poinsettia flowers to place in the middle of my garland to add some color.  Too much green in my opinion.  I like it better this way. 




This is my 15th Christmas with my husband, and I got this ornament a few years ago that changes years if you turn the knob on the top.  I thought it was pretty, so I took a picture of it.  I have been collecting Hallmark ornaments since my first son was born and get them for each of my kids every year as well as one for my husband and myself. 


Here is a picture of our snow-covered street about a week ago.  I am guessing that we will be having a white Christmas. 


I may be out of the blogging loop for a little bit while my husband is at home here with us.  Please note though that in a few weeks when he has to leave again, I will back making my rounds again. 

Have a safe and Happy Holiday and Merry Christmas...Happy New Year to all of you and yours!!

Hugs and Blessing,

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

MMSC32 Altered Container...Cookie or Candy Holder

The countdown is on.....Is it just me, or has this month flown by already, and Christmas will be here before we turn around twice?  I am not ready yet.  I want to have more fun decorating and doing all of the holiday things.  My days are so full and busy that I don't think I have had the time that I would love to to sit back and really ponder this wonderful time of the year. 

My poor cookie container is cookieless as I post this for you.  My intentions are good, and I have all that I need to bake...except for time.  I can see me now two days before Christmas baking like crazy to be ready in time.  I hope you all are more organized than me. 

We hope that you will find a few minutes in the midst of all this hustle and bustle of the season to take a bit of time to play with us and create something yourself.  What a great gift sketch this is!  My teammates have outdone themselves with this sketch.  I think you will agree once you have visited their sites. 



This is an altered instant cappuccino container that will be home to some homemade cookies for my son's teacher this year. 



I thought it would be cute to make the recipe card itself look like a cookie.  It slips right down into the pocket on the container.



Mmmmmmm




This is the back of the container with a holiday sentiment on it.





Congrats to the winners of the MM Masterpiece, and the Remarkables award:



Jessica G
Ms. Plum
Vicki (Basement Stamper)

Beautiful job ladies!!

Thank you to Frantic Stamper for being our Dec Sponsor and Simon Says Stamp for the $25 gift voucher!


Thanks for visiting me today, and I would love to hear what you think of my project.  I look forward to seeing what you create as well.

Have a beautiful holiday my friends, and may you have many blessings and the love of family surround you during this special time of year.





Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Midnight Madness Holiday Blog Hop MMSC31

LET IT SNOW!! Winter Wonderland Blog Hop Project



WELCOME TO OUR MIDNIGHT MADNESS HOLIDAY BLOG HOP

We know this is a busy time of year for everyone so we are including our blog hop with our regular weekly Challenge MMSC #31. We invite you to participate in our challenge by making a card from our fabulous sketch and to be inspired by the projects on our blogs and make a matching ornament or small project. You are not required to do the project, but it would be a treat for us to see what you come up with and we would love it!!! You also do not have to do the sketch to participate in the blog hop. As an added bonus, we are going to do something a little different this time around. Each of our Design Team is offering up their card and project as a prize. WOW, a chance to own a Midnight Madness Card and design!!!

1 Blog Hop GRAND Prize Drawing

12 Design Team Featured Card with Ornament/Small Project Random Drawing

1 PRETTY PAPER Christmas Card drawing from the 12 Highlighted on Each DT Blog from the MMSC#28

You have until Tuesday, December 15, 2009 12 p.m. Midnight EST to enter your MMSC#31 in Mr. Linky at Priscilla’s Midnight Madness Blog ,as always to be eligible for the Regular Weekly Bonus Prize.


If you would like your name entered in for the MIDNIGHT MADNESS BLOG HOP PRIZES, you will have to follow the directions below……..

1. To be eligible for the Blog Hop Grand Prize, 12 Design Team Card/Project Drawing, and Pretty Paper drawing; you must leave a comment on each of the Designer’s Blog’s during your journey through the Hop. Once your name has been chosen, we will check to make sure you have commented on each blog before you are notified.

2. Enter your name and the words BLOG HOP in Mr. Linky, to be eligible for the Blog Hop prizes. As an added bonus, if you do the sketch you can enter you link to your card/project and have two entry chances for the prizes.

3. In order to have a chance at winning any of the prizes, except for the Regular Weekly Bonus. you must gather a secret phrase along the Blog Hop. Each Design Team Member will have a particular word or words listed on their blog and as long as you visit them in order, you will have the secret phrase at the end. If you are picked as a Prize winner you will be contacted by email and you must email back the secret phrase WITHIN 48 HOURS to claim your prize. If there is no response within the 48 hour time frame, another winner will be chosen until all prizes are awarded. To start off, you must begin at Pricilla’s Midnight Madness Blog! If you have not started there, I suggest you go back and begin again . . . you don’t want to miss out on the Prizes! If you have arrived from Charlotte's Blog then you are on the correct course. If you want a chance to win you will have to follow the instructions listed above. Thank you and have fun on the Hop.

If you would like to be considered for the Christmas Blog Hop Prizes, and you DO NOT have a blog, you still can participate. You will have to follow the directions below……..

1. Leave a comment on the Midnight Madness Blog Hop comment section with your email address, first name and last name initial.

2. Link up to Mr. Linky with first name, last name initial, the words BLOG HOP and in the URL space enter this address http://priscillastyles.blogspot.com/

· My Pretty Paper Christmas Card Pick is by Pam124.....Isn't it pretty?




Pretty Paper, Pretty Ribbon of Blue,

Wrap your presents to your darling from you,

Pretty pencils to write I love you,

Pretty paper, Pretty Ribbons of Blue.

We as paper crafters and card makers go crazy over pretty paper, pretty pencils, and pretty ribbons. Probably most of you are wishing for a special paper crafting tool or treat to be under the Christmas Tree with your name on it this year!!!! This song fits the mood and tempo of all us out there crafting away for the Christmas Holiday. For something Festive for the Season we want to feature our favorite cards from MMSC#28 to honor our Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge Players who played along with us that week. Our Pretty Paper card choices will need to do the blog hop, leave a comment at each of the Design Team Blogs, and collect a word from each of the blogs visited for the winning phrase and place their name in Mr. Linky with “blog hop” after their name at Priscilla’s Midnight Madness Blog! We will enter your name in a drawing for one winner from our 12 entries. We will email you when we verify that you have entered your name in Mr. Linky and have left a comment on each of the Design Team Blogs, you will need to email back the phrase in order to qualify for your prize. Even if your card has been chosen for the “Pretty Paper” you are still eligible for the other prizes.

Here is my Winter Wonderland Project for the holidays...... An altered Pringles' can "diorama" of sorts /candle holder and a combination gate and traditional holiday card.







This card is multi-functional and multi-featured. See all the pictures to see how much you get in just one card.



This is still the front of the card with the gatefold opened to reveal a holiday sentiment and some sparkly and festive snowflakes, pretty designer paper, dry embossing, and ribbon.



This is the inside of he card that gives plenty of room to add your own personal message and also has a beautiful sparkly snowflake and gorgeous around the page punching.



Here is the candle in the top of the Pringle's can. It glows down onto the scene if the room is dark, but I could not capture this well in a picture.




Below are just some different angles of the card...










Our Midnight Madness Monthly sponsor this month is The Frantic Stamper. We would like to thank them very much!

Thank you for playing in our weekly challenges and for all your support each week. Everyone at Midnight Madness would like to wish you and yours a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year. We thank you for joining us in our special Christmas Blog hop and invite you to participate in the sketch challenge this week with a small project of your own. Here at Midnight Madness we are looking forward to 2010 with more exciting fun and prizes and meeting and making friends with all of our participants past, present and future. Thank you and good luck winning the prizes!!!

HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS!!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Winter Wonderland!



Just thought I would share our first real snow of the season.  It's not so much yet, but it is still snowing, and my guess is it will get worse before it gets better.  It is December, and I guess we are a little later getting our first snow this year than we normally do anyway, so can't complain too much.  I don't love the snow, and really don't love shoveling it and scraping snow and ice off of vehicles while I freeze my butt off.  However, I do think that snow for Christmas is always beautiful, and if we don't have it, I do feel like something is missing.  It is always such a warm and wonderful feeling to see the snow flying outside for Christmas while we sit inside in the warmth by the fire and the lights twinkling on the tree, and there is nothing like looking out the window on Christmas Eve and seeing the holiday lights shine through the white snow falling from the sky.  One of my favorite sights of the holiday!  I am trying to hold onto those thoughts as I get myself ready to go out and clean up some of this stuff off of the sidewalks ; )

Have a beautiful weekend everyone!



Wednesday, December 2, 2009

BLOG CANDY For The Holiday Season!!!

Blog candy is now closed.

Congratulations to the winner of the MMSC Blog Candy giveaway....Karen!!!!  I hope you have fun with all your new goodies!!





This post will stay at the top until December 2nd.
Please scroll down for the most recent posts.

What you need to do for your chance to win is:


1.  Be a follower of the Midnight Madness Blog
2.  You MUST play at least one Midnight Madness Sketch during the month of November for a chance to win this candy.  You will get one entry for each sketch challenge that you enter this month.
3. Be a follower or become a follower of MY blog for an extra entry!  (Hit the follow me button on the sidebar to the right of this post)
4.  After leaving your card link on Mr. Linky at the Midnight Madness Blog, be sure to come back and leave a comment HERE and leave a comment under this post.  PLEASE leave your name AND the sketch(es) that you played.  For example:  Carol M.  played MMSC27, MMSC28.
5.  Good Luck and Have Fun.  You do not have to have a blog to win!



For a complete list of what you could win, please see Priscilla's Blog.  This Blog Candy will close at 12:00 Midnight PST December 1st, 2009


The more times you play Midnight Madness, the more chances you have to win this candy.  Becoming a follower of MY blog will give you an additional entry and bonus chance to win.


Priscilla will be drawing the name of the lucky winner on 12/02/2009.  Good Luck!!  Happy Holidays!

Hugs,


Tuesday, December 1, 2009

MMSC30 Hark The Herold Angels Sing

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!! 
24 Days until Christmas!!!  Are you going to be ready in time? 


Have any of you endured the madness of Black Friday and gotten some good deals or some "Hot, hard-to-find items"?

How many of you are taking on the challenge of making all of your Christmas cards to send out this year?  Well, why not use the MMSC challenges to help you along?  It sure is helping me.  There never seems to be enough time in all the hustle and bustle of the holidays to step back and enjoy just creating some handmade cards or gifts for all of our loved ones.  I do admit that I am better now than I used to be when my kids were younger.  There are so many things to fit into the holidays....baking cookies, decorating the trees...and the house for that matter, going to all the parties and functions, shopping for gifts, wrapping gifts, writing out our cards and mailing them along with any packages for those loved ones that can't be with us this year.  Preparing the big meal, and if you are "lucky" like me, you get to be the one to do all the cooking, and everyone else comes to your house to enjoy the meal.... taking the kids to see the lights and sites in the evening, playing in the snow, building snowmen and sledding, going to the candle-light church service on Christmas Eve....oh my, and the list goes on.   You get the idea. 

For now, why not kick back for a few minutes, enjoy the Christmas songs that I have loaded onto my site for you, and hopefully get some inspiration to create some wonderful Christmas cards for your loved ones. 

Here is what I have come up with for this week's sketch.  I hope you will enjoy it. 











I was hoping for a combination of the pink and purple feathers, but I had no pink :(  Oh well. 




Let's see what you come up with for this week.  I will be around to have a look. 




Thank you to our sponsors this week:  Weekly sponsor~Christina Bower~Sunshine Stamps
Monthly sponsor~ Frantic Stamper, Inc.   Check the MMSC Blog for more details and news!

Welcome to our December guest designer: Cabio!!  She is super talented, and I can't wait to be working with her in the next month.  Congratulations Cabio.  We are all excited to see your MMSC creations. 

Congrats to this weeks MMM and MMR winners:  SuperNan...Karen Wallace, and Connie M.  All very beautiful creations.  It is getting harder and harder to narrow them down each week! 

Thanks for visiting me today, and please don't forget to leave me a comment, so that I know you stopped by.

Hurry and get your last chance to enter into the MMSC Blog Candy Giveaway that is going to be at the top of my blog for another 2 days.  Don't miss out.  Lots of great items to create with. 

Have a great day everyone, and will see you in a few days at the big MMSC Holiday Blog Hop  (Dec 8th-15th)!!


Friday, November 27, 2009

CSPT & Friends Charity Auction


1 in 91 children are affected by autism.
That's a lot!  My youngest child has Asperger's syndrome, which is a form of autism.  We found out alot later that I would have liked with him and have so much catching up to do, but early intervention is the goal for these kids, and charities like this one helps to make that possible along with many other resources that give these kids the help that they need.

CSPT, along with some wonderfully talented friends, have teamed up to help.


Friday, November 27th, our very own CSPT member Laura will be hosting an ebay auction featuring more than 10 ebay artists. The theme of the auction is "Christmas Survival Kit." It will include everything you need to get through this holiday season, including: gift tags, cards, teachers' gifts, ornaments, and more!

Drop by this very special ebay auction.  Have a look, and place a bid.  It will warm your heart to think you have had a hand in helping these very special and wonderful children.

With your help- we can make this auction a huge success!!



CSPT Charity Auction***click here
 
Thank you, and God Bless You!!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Sunday Sketch and Stamp Challenge Christmas Critter Friends Card

One more quick post before Thanksgiving!  I saw this sketch at the Sunday Sketch and Stamp Challenge, and thought of this image right off the bat.  I had to give it a try.  Believe it or not, this one came out pretty much exactly how I wanted it too, and I am really happy with it.  I love the simple two tone colors..red and white and very festive too.  This is one of my favorite images, but it is a large stamp and requires a bigger card to leave enough room for anything else, so this is a larger card than I usually make.  I am really loving it though.  I hope you enjoy viewing it too.


Here is a closer look.  Aren't they just the sweetest little critters?  I did not pop this image like I usually do only for a lack of time, but it is every bit as cute just the way it is.  I colored this with a combination of Prismacolor sketch and watercolor pencils and Stampin' Up watercolor pencils.  I used some snow-tex for the snow and some puffy paint for the hat, pom poms and bunny tail.



Thanks for visiting me today, and if you have visited me twice to see my MMSC card too, thank you twice.  I love seeing you drop by and look forward to your uplifting comments.  You are all blessings to me, and I am very grateful for you. 
Blessings to you and yours this Thanksgiving, and I will see you all again soon.

HUGS,






Challenge for this card:  Sunday Sketch and Stamp Challenge