I forgot to post this yesterday! I get emails from a demo named Gretchen Barron. She takes as much care with the inside of her cards as the card itself. She has inspired me to start doing a little more with the inside of my cards. This is the inside of the Snowflake Thank You posted yesterday. I used the 1/16th inch circle punch to make the circle scallops match.

Here's today's card, and the last of the thank you's I made for the swap with Heidi and Tracy. Again, designer paper for a colorful background, then some felt flurries and bling to top it off. What makes this card, though, is the Lace Edge punch.

another Thank You

Here's another Thank You. I know I saw this general idea-- using designer paper with a ribbon bow-- on Splitcoast, but I'm not sure who did it first. Cards like this are EXACTLY the reason I bought the "thank you" Sizzlit for my Big Shot-- I think this looks great (so modest, yes?). Have a WONDERFUL Friday and keep your fingers crossed-- we might get some snow Saturday!

Thank you cards

One great way to keep your stamping going is to join a swap or organize one informally. Heidi, Tracy, and I decided to make thank you cards so that one more Christmas "to do" would be off our lists. We decided each of us would make 12 cards and divide them amongst the three of us. I actually made 3 designs of 12 cards each because I forgot to check my supplies before starting! I'll show them all to you over the next few days, plus I will post Tracy's and Heidi's after I get them. Here's the first, inspired by a Gretchen Barron creation. I do love these colors together!

Petra's Christmas card

Petra came over on Black Friday-- while the kids visited, she and I stamped! She finalized the design for her Christmas card, while I did "thank you's" for a swap I am in -- I'll post those later in the week. Forgive the short posts, I am getting used to my work schedule and getting up earlier than usual.

Petra chose Not Quite Navy, Whisper White, and Brushed Silver. She was inspired by a card on SCS. The tree is from Lovely as a Tree and the sentiment from Season of Joy. Heat and Stick powder holds the Dazzling Diamonds on the image. Isn't this pretty?

Molly's thank you's

Molly decided to use some of the Thanksgiving break getting ready for Christmas. She always stamps some thank you's to send for the gifts sent by our families. She's all ready to go! These were 100% her own work, color choices, and design, even to choosing to stamp the flower in a darker hue than the paper. I do like sharing crafting time with her, now I just have to get her to the point where she automatically cleans up after herself!

Glass Blocks

I'm still having issues with the photo editing package (sigh) but Byron says he'll have some time later tonight to help. I think I had better write down the instructions this time! So I surfed through my files and found this Glass Block photo (hmmm...I still have some of these downstairs......hmmmmm). This one does not have microbeads attached, as requested by the person for whom I did it. The one below does. I love microbeads, they diffuse the light and make the block sparkly.



Mary's casserole

Every holiday I make Mary's casserole with the leftover turkey (it is equally delicious with shredded chicken). Mary made this for us when Molly was born-- I think Byron and I ate the whole pan in 2 days! It was that yummy. If you need something new to try with your Turkey day leftovers, I highly recommend this.

1 box Stove Top Cornbread stuffing
5 tbsp melted butter
8 oz sour cream (light or fat free is fine)
1 can Cram of Chicken soup (I use 98% fat free)
1.5 cups chicken broth
4-5 shredded chicken breasts or same amount of leftover turkey

Mix the stuffing and the butter. Spray 13 X 9 pan with cooking spray and put 1/3 of the stuffing in pan. Top with shredded meat ( I just shredded turkey by hand until I had a nice thick layer, I didn't measure). Mix the sour cream and soup together, spread on top of meat. Sprinkle remaining stuffing mix on top and drizzle the chicken broth over all. Bake uncovered 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until bubbly. Delish!

Christmas is coming.......

Come on, now, confess-- how many of you automatically sang along with "the goose is getting fat, please put a penny in the poor man's hat!". Ohh--just me? Blame it on my mother, who hails from England. I never hear that phrase without a snippet of the song running through my brain!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and snagged some Black Friday deals! Molly and I went out around 11 and were amazed at the lack of crowds. Not much on either of our shopping lists. My big-hearted daughter scooped 2 tags off the Angel Tree; she's using her cat-sitting money to buy presents for a 6-yr old girl and 9-yr old boy. Then we dropped by the music store to pick up Russell's drum set. They actually called Tuesday to let me know it was in and (bad parent!!) I just couldn't face it, I left it until today. He's thrilled and I am ready to buy the rubber pads that fit on top to save my sanity.

I have a ton of new pictures (which I will whittle down to 6 or so) but the photo editing package is not cooperating, so here is one my 2008 Club ladies (I miss you!) will recognize. This was inspired by Master Brayer Artist Michele Zindorf. We took the easy way out and sponged our dawn sky-- I did try several times to get the same amazing effects she does, without success, so out came the sponges.