Ok, I lied. Ended up doing one more. A friend asked me to do one for her. So I did. But I swear this is the very last one until after Christmas shopping is done.

Thanks for stopping by.

More Baby Hats

These are the last two I am going to do for awhile. They are for a set of twins, a girl and a boy, that were born a couple of weeks ago. I need to put down the knitting needles and take care of Christmas. Once that is done and out of the way, I will pick up the needles again. I found a class at the local knitting store that teaches you to read patterns. I am signing up for sure. Thanks for stopping by.

Thankfully Christmas comes but once a year

If it came more than once a year, I would be in serious trouble. I never seem to get things done for this season on time. However, this year I am actually somewhat ahead of the game. Did some shopping on Black Friday, which is a new experience for me. I have a cards made and ready to mail out. Maybe I am someone else hiding in Annie's body.
This is one of the card designs I did this year. It was pretty quick and very easy with the stamp block from Purple Onion Designs. The paper is Basic Grey Wassail Collection. It was alot of cutting and taping but went pretty quick once I had all the pieces cut out.
I am not really a Christmas person. Scrooge would be a better adjective if you were describing me around Christmas. I do love to give gifts. That is probably the only part about Christmas I like.
I hate that this holiday has turned into a barometer of how the retail business' are doing. Just seems wrong when you think about the true meaning of Christmas. When did the season turn into a spending extravaganza?

This is the second design I did. Another putzy one. Lots of cutting and taping. I forget who made the Merry Christmas stamp. The package is Purple Onion Designs. The Santa is a Sizzix die. I put glitter on the hat. The paper is Basic Grey Wassail Collection. I used up a whole pad of the 6x6 for these two designs.

The ribbon on the package is colored with a Copic Marker as is the face of the Santa. One of the Ovals is a large punch, the other one had to be hand cut since I didn't have a larger oval punch.

Another part of the holiday season I like is making Christmas cards. I have a ton of holiday stamps too. They really make nice stamps for Christmas. Even though I already have a ton of stamps, I usually end up buying a few every year. This year I only bought two sets. I am really trying to keep to a no spending on craft stuff pledge that I made. I need to use what I have. And believe me, I have alot.

This is the third design that I did. It is all stamping. No paper cutting other than the mats. The Holiday Greetings Stamp is by Stampin Up. The tree is a Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection. I cut out a circle and then used a sponge to stamp the background. The trees were added afterward and I stamped off on a couple.

What you can't see is that I added some glitter to the branches. I used a glitter pen. I wanted the card to have some shimmer. I matted with two shades of blue. I think this one is my favorite. Since I tend to putz quite a bit when it comes to cards and I totally hate doing mass production. I am thankful that Christmas only comes once a year. I make about 80 cards. So far I have 60 done. The rest will be one of a kind for family, and for Mike's bosses. For some reason, I get volunteered every year to do those cards.


This is the last design. I loved the tree stamp, which is Memory Box. I borrowed the design from a card on their gallery. I changed it a wee bit by adding the star and the sentiment, which are both from Purple Onion Designs.

I used white and gold ink on this one and a gold mat behind the green card stock. A very simple design.

This is what I have done so far. I am also going to make some ornaments out of little tins. Haven't even started on those yet. Maybe tomorrow.

I still have to do something for the insides of all these cards. I will probably just print a nice festive sentiment and call it done.

Hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas. Thanks for stopping by.

Baby Hats

There are times when I do more than sits and ponder. There are times when I sits and knits. I love knitting little baby hats. It is just about all I knit because for some reason, I have never gotten the knack of reading patterns. Some of the time I can look at the picture and reproduce, most of the time, I just make the design up as I go. I really should take a knitting class to learn how to at least read patterns.

I also knit when I am going through creative slumps. That really translates into, I have the lazies. No motivation to stamp or create something on paper. I am having a slump right now when I should be doing Christmas cards. Instead, I just sits and knits.

This first little hat went to a little gal in Colorado. I work with her Dad. I wanted it to look like a little raspberry but I think it looks more like an eggplant. Hmmmmm.

This is my friend Kim's little grandbaby Ella. It is really nice to see the hats on the little babies. And don't you just love the little boots she has on?
After I got done with this hat, I decided that because Kim likes daisies, that Miss Ella needed a daisy hat. So I did this one.
This next little hat is one that went to Miss Fiona Payne. I actually did two for her. This one was really easy. I just knitted and then threaded lots of ribbons through it. The first one I did looked way to big for a newborn, so I did one that she could wear now. Well back to knitting. Gotta get my next project done. I am working on little hats for a set of twins - a boy and a girl - born two weeks ago.

Thanks for stopping by!

Rubber Stamp Madness

This piece was done for Rubber Stamp Madness' current issue for the theme Peace on Earth.

All stamps used are Eat Cake Graphics. I had to do alot of masking. I love the little bear. The front porch and grass had to be extended, so I drew in the rest.

I am rather pleased with the way it looks in the publication. Rubber Stamp Madness is probably my favorite stamping magazine. Probably because they don't have any scrapbooking stuff, and that they still explore techniques. To many have gone to just cards, and don't bother with any techniques. I like to learn.

It is sad that most of the publications that were strictly for stampers have folded or have started incorporating scrapbooking. I don't think they use the same techniques. So I would rather not see scrapbooking stuff in the stamping magazines. That is just my opinion. Don't have anything against scrapbooking. Just think there are already enough publications that showcase it and to few that are devoted entirely to stamping.

Thanks for stopping by and listening to me ponder on.