Pop Top Holiday Treat Tin!

I've wanted to make one of these clever little altered pop top tins forever and finally did! Not only is it a perfect gift container for candy, it would work perfectly for a gift card or CASH too! You could make it a birthday theme, Valentine's or whatever your heart desires.


Many of you have probably already tried this, but if not I'll give you the scoop... just take any pop top tin and instead of opening the top, open the bottom with a can opener that cuts the seal and doesn't destroy the can. (I have the Pampered Chef opener) Fill the tin and seal it back up. I used Stampin Up Crystal Effects. Decorate as desired and there you have it . . .a special handmade gift in a tin! :)

For mine, I've used designer paper from a DCWV Glitter Stack and the PaperTreyInk "Holiday Treats" set. The holiday ribbons are from Michaels. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Now I should be packing for our trip, but I'm trying to catch up on some Christmas thank yous. It's been so FUN to spend time stamping again!

Holiday Smiles,

"A brand new year is nearly here,

Open your heart and be of good cheer.

A year full of promise and good things to come.

In your list of resolutions, let good deeds be one.

Help one another and give of your love,

for that will be pleasing to the Father above."
~Author Unknown~

Christmas Cards from Stampin' Friends ~

It brings such joy and happiness to receive Christmas cards from friends, but when they are handmade it is even more special! I treasure them, appreciate all your creative effort and thank you so very much!

Please forgive me for not getting mine sent. How about a Valentine instead? :)

Scrabble Tile Pendants on Etsy!

Why didn't I think to create these?!

Have you seen these Scrabble Tile Pendants on Etsy.com? It just so happens that I read about them on someone's blog a few weeks ago and had to order a couple of them for the holidays. Mine are from seller: "Home Studio" and I have nothing but praise for their fast and professional service. Not only that, but the price is right! :) If you're interested, they are having an after Christmas clearance SALE and shipping is FREE!

Are you wondering why I'm advertising on my blog? With my order was a card for bloggers. If I post a link on my blog, they will send me a FREE pendant and chain. Whoo Hoo!

* my pendants came in these pretty satin gift bags.

* this is the back side... yes, they really are a Scrabble tile!

I'll be back later with photos of all the beautiful Christmas cards I've received from stamping friends. They are fabulous and I can't wait to share them with you!

Holiday Smiles,

Quote for Today ~

"Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right." ~Oprah Winfrey

Holiday Puppy Treats!

"Holiday Hi" to all my dear blog friends!

It's amazing how quickly Christmas has come and gone! I've found very little time for stamping and cardmaking this past month and regret the lack of blog posts too.

Now, I'm on VACATION until January 5th so hope to catch up a little this weekend before we fly out to VEGAS to spend New Year's with our daughter Katie and her fiance Warrick. Jim and I have never been there so it will be an "experience" for sure. We're not big gamblers, but hope to see the sights and take in a show or two. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate with no flight delays. I've heard there is an awesome rubber stamp store there so I plan to check it out. If you've been to Vegas and have any advice or recommendations, please let me know! :)

I do have a few little projects to share with you... this one is a little tag that I made to tie on a box of doggie treats from the "Three Dog Bakery". Have you ever heard of this place? The one I went to is in Omaha, NE at Village Point Mall. This place is amazing...a specialty bakery for dogs! Seriously, these treats look good enough to eat! I wish I could show you what I bought, but they had them all wrapped up and sealed. Next time, I'll take my camera in the store with me. ;) Our dachshund Lilly has two special puppy friends (Ava & Maggie) that like to bring her treats, so this was her gift to them.

Here's the "paw"ticulars on the tag... kraft paper from Stampin Up, layered on scrap piece of forest foliage green. The dachshund stamp is by Penny Black - "a romantic dog". There is a little flower in her mouth, but I covered it with the circle punch and made a balloon, stamped with the "holiday treats" stamp by Papertrey Ink.

And, of course, I had to include a photo of Lilly with her Santa hat that is now all chewed up. Needless to say, she did NOT like it! :) So, I'm happy I got at least one good photo of her.

Was SANTA good to you? I was spoiled, as always! My sweet DIL Jami & son Andy gave me two of the quilt stamp sets I've been wanting from Papertrey Ink. And also a wood-mounted stamp with the saying "All people SMILE in the same language". We did some stamping yesterday and it took us both a couple hours to create ONE card! I'll post those later...

Gosh, I've been rambling, haven't I? Wish we could all just get together and have a BIG StampFest for New Years! It would be such FUN to meet in person and get to know one another better. You are all such an inspiration and mean so much to me. Thank you for all your comments and words of encouragement.

Wishing you all joy & happiness...and a very blessed & peaceful New Year 2009!

Mojo Monday ~ A Very Merry Christmas to YOU!

Happy Monday Dear Friends!

Today's card was inspired by Julee Tilman's Mojo Monday sketch #64. If you haven't visited her blog "Poetic Artistry" you really must as her creations and sketches are exceptional and SO very inspiring!

This was a FUN card to make, starting with the whimsical Inkadinkado Christmas tree. It was stamped in old olive and embossed with a clear embossing powder to give it some shine and dimension. The background paper is Basic Grey "Fruitcake" layered on Stampin Up old olive cardstock. The distressed red piece is from my stash of scraps.

The bottom of the red cardstock was punched with the Stampin Up scallop punch then stitched to the designer paper. For the sentiment, again I stamped in old olive and clear embossed. It is punched with the large SU oval and then I cut off the right side. All the edges were sponged with Tim Holtz tea dye distress ink. I've added red eyelets and olive twill ribbon to embellish.


On the inside of the card is a sentiment by Stampendous and it reads "May your family enjoy a special season filled with love, joy and peace." The small manger stamp in the left inside corner is from Morning Star Stamps.

Sometimes it takes me awhile to find my "mojo" . . . especially since I haven't been stamping much lately. That's another reason why I appreciate these sketches so much! :)

Have a warm and wonderful week dear friends! Be sure to take time to relax and enjoy the reason for this special season!

Holiday Smiles!





Quote for Today ~
"Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall." - Larry Wilde, The Merry Book of Christmas

Make it Simple! ~ Party Invitations

Life is BUSY and we all try to find ways to SIMPLIFY! If you need a quick and easy party invitation, check this out . . .

Our sweet DIL Jami is graduating from college on December 19th and we are hosting an open house in her honor. {Summa cum Laude ~ WAY 2 GO Jami! We're SO proud of U!}

I created 25 of these, addressed the envelopes and had them all ready to mail in just a couple hours. That leaves more time for planning the menu, grocery shopping, cleaning the house, etc!

There is actually no stamping on the card, but I did stamp the envelopes. :) The invitation was printed with black ink on white cardstock (4 x 5-1/4") using my pc printer. I set up the document in Print Shop, using two columns, four to a page. After cutting them apart, I embossed the left edge of each one with the new Cuttlebug border template "Just My Type". After embossing, I layered it on a piece of black cardstock, 4-1/4 x 5-1/2".


The embossing goes very quickly, so I also embossed the left edge of the envelopes. The back flap of the envelopes were stamped them with "Party Time" from the Stampin Up "Lots of Thoughts" set.



My photos are rather gray because I took them at night and my lighting wasn't the best, but the invites are a bright white, actually "Whisper White" cardstock from Stampin' Up!

Today, I've been doing some laundry and housework and a little online Christmas shopping. I haven't stamped all week so I'm hoping to find my mojo and create a few birthday cards. If so, I'll post them later! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Wishing you all a blessed Holiday Season!
Smiles...





Thought for Today ~

I hope your dreams take you to the corners of your smiles, to the highest of your hopes, to the windows of your opportunities, and to the most special places your heart has ever known. ~Author Unknown

Checking In!

My, oh my, the days are flying by! And I know I've been neglecting all of you, my blog and my stamping hobby!

I hope you've all had a blessed Thanksgiving with family and friends. We certainly did! Our daughter was home from Hawaii with her fiance so that made it extra extra special. Our son and daughter-in-law were here and a few of their friends joined us too. Such good times and GREAT memories!

We all got together last Friday at a local pub to watch the Nebraska Cornhuskers' exciting WIN over Colorado. GO BIG RED! Our daughter took this photo of us with her iphone and emailed it to me. Hubby and I both look really old and tired, but I thought I would share it with you anyway. :) The kids are SO much FUN to have around, but keep us up WAY too late!!!

Now, I need to get busy creating invitations to our sweet DIL Jami's graduation party on December 19th! She's graduating that day from Wayne State College and we're planning an open house here to celebrate. Some of you know Jami from her blog "Crazy Daisy Creations" and may wonder where she's been. She's very busy with her student teaching and all the homework that goes with it. Hopefully, she'll get back to stamping and blogging after graduation. I would *love* to host a card shower for her. If you're interested, please email me for her address.

Have a wonderful week! Smiles,





Thought for Today ~

Faith is daring the soul to go beyond what the eyes can see.

A small town chamber of commerce once invited a man to address their annual banquet. The speaker was asked to be motivational, since the town’s economy had been bad that year and people were discouraged.

During his presentation, the speaker took a large piece of white paper and made a black dot in the center of it with a marking pen. He then held the paper up before the audience and asked, “What do you see?” One person replied, “I see a black dot.” The speaker said, “Fine. What else do you see?”

Others chimed in, “A black dot.” The speaker asked, “Don’t you see anything besides the dot?” The audience responded with a resounding “No!”

“But you’ve overlooked the most important thing,” the speaker replied. “You’ve missed seeing the sheet of paper!” He then went on to explain, “In our lives, we are often distracted by small, dot-like failures. They keep us from seeing the blessings, successes, and joys that are far more important than the disappointments that try to monopolize our energy and attention. I encourage all of us to focus on the big picture of what is right rather than the small view of what is wrong.”

Are we so preoccupied today with what is, that we’ve lost sight of what can be? Step back and see the bigger picture.