I finally did it. I made an advent calendar. I saw the calendars at my LSS (Melissa Frances) and I said to myself, "This is the year you're going to do this for Phoenix (my son)" and I did! I used all My Mind's Eye products (paper and chipboard shapes) to decorate, and used the number stickers included in the kit. It took me two hours from beginning to end, so it was a relatively "quick" project to pull off..

Using a folded and stamped piece of PTI paper I created a back-drop for some of the larger die-cut shapes. I used flower-soft in Polar White on the ground.


And here's the finished calendar:


Now I have to go shopping for goodies to stuff inside! I think Phoenix is going to really enjoy this for years to come!

Bye for now!

Hmmm... What's my favourite product at the Jacksonbelle store? That's the challenge today! Create a project with my favourite product which is..........I would have to say...............there's too many products to choose....... okay, I pick Basic Grey!! I had some papers from last year's Christmas collection laying around and because I need to make way for NEW Christmas product I used that. I made 3 cards, and here they are:



Look, ma! No stamping! I used stickers in the paper pack as well as some ribbon, and some Prima "glitter spray." (the shiny leaf on the last card)...

To celebrate our favorites (and Thanksgiving), Lindsey has a HUGE sale going on in the Jacksonbelle store. EVERYTHING is 25% off. As a bonus, for every order you place between now and the end of the month you get your name entered into a drawing for a HUGE Jacksonbelle goodie package worth over $100!

Be sure to check out the blogs of all of the Jacksonbelle Rockstars:
Stephanie Hargis ~ Steph’s Stampin’ Stuff
Jimmi Mayo ~ Stamping & Shopping
Bethany Paull ~ It’s Not All Black & White
Michelle Philippi ~ Inside My Own Private Idaho
Carly Robertson ~ Paper in Bloom
Shemaine Smith ~ Scraptastic
Lynda Benden: Stamp Act
Jill Dunn: Ink Genious
Lindsey Botkin: Embellished
Trudee Sauer: Follow Your Bliss

Heather Lee-Reppen: The Best in Life
Keri Lee Sereika:  Pink Lemonade

I had a lot of fun creating this card. I don't usually RIP my heavily-guarded Papertrey Ink paper, but for this background I think it was necessary.
I "cased" this card that was created using encaustic painting so I had to find a way to replicate the colours of the background. I stamped "rain" onto the blue that's barely visible in the photo, and I also sponged ink in the same blue colour and cream to create texture in the sky.
The tree and ground have glossy accents on them for the wet and rainy look.

The tree is a die-cut shape from Silhouette. It was originally printed on Kiwi Kiss cardstock, but I sponged most of the green away with brown ink. Now the green is just peeking through here and there...

Stamps: My Favorite Things (rain drops, sentiment)

Paper: papertrey ink

Ink: aqua mist, vintage cream (PTI), Jumbo Java Versamagic

Accessories: Glossy Accents (ranger), pearls (Kaiser)

This week's challenge was to pick a dress from this cute collection 
of girl's dresses. I wasn't a dress-wearing girl, but pieces like these make
me have a few regrets. *sniff, sniff*

This is a comparison of two inks that are great to USE WITH COPIC MARKERS! I have been using Nick Bantock ink in Lamp Black (by Ranger) for a LONG time. It was the ink I first used with Copics.. Then everyone said, "Try Palette!! It's the best!!!" and it wasn't... So I went back to Nick. Then everyone said "Try Memento! It's definately the best!!!" So I did.. And it's not! I'm sorry... Here's why:

Everytime there's a VSN (Virtual Stamp Night) I try to fit in a few challenges and as per usual I fit in 4. So here are the cards:

The challenge for this week was to make a holiday gift item, so because I have about 20+ coffee bags (and I actually love using them for gifts) I thought I would get a head start on my Christmas stash..


I stamped on the coffee bag with Vintage Cream ink (Papertrey) and an old Stampendous snowflake. I stamped the adorable Stampavie penguin in Memento ink on Papertrey white paper and coloured with Copics. A couple dabs of flower soft here and there completed the image. (sentiment is Papertrey ink). I cut out the circles with the Creative Memories cutting system and scraped the edge of the red circle.

 Wait 'til you see my funny version of this guy tomorrow. I kinda FORGOT what penguins look like (they're not really native to my area, hahaha) and I kinda well...... You'll see. hahaha.. anyway. Take a look at the rest of the team's gifty creations:

Do you ever make cards "just because?" I need to do it more because 1) I have a bunch of deadlines coming up and I need more cards, 2) it's nice to make something just for the heck of it and 3) there's no pressure to make it GREAT! It is what it is.....

Here are some favourite moments from the last two days in preperation for my second favourite holiday (after Christmas, ofcourse!).

Right now I can hear firecrackers being set off by teenagers at the elementary school across the street as two humungous bowls of Phoenix's candy sit in front of me on the counter...staring.. taunting.... must look away....

At left is one part of my neighbour's Haunted House extravaganza!! It's very cool to live right beside a local Hallowe'en destination. It helped all of us get in the mood!