It’s Magic

Oh my, where oh where did December go?  This year December flew by even faster than normal and was about 10 time more hectic that I have dealt with before.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  We had a great one as a family, my DH was able to take a few days off of work and spend time with the family without any other pressing obligations.  It was a great time.  Now we are back to the grindstone, and in a few days the kids will be back in school.  I spent what little stamping time, and I stress little, working on my project for Ustamp, so I didn't even do any Christmas stamping or projects.  I am so ready for this year to be over with, 2010 wasn’t really that nice to us.  I know that we had it better than many people but it was a really hard one for us.  I am hopeful that 2011 will be a good one. 

So a little while ago I finally tried my hand at a Magic card.  These cards were always intimidating to me and I never even looked at attempting one.  I finally bit the bullet and they were not that hard!  This one is a simple young boy’s birthday card. Here is a shot of the magic in action.  When you pull the ribbon the picture colors itself in! This is a shot of the tag pulled completely out.It was really fun to make.  I did look through several tutorials until I found one that suited me and thought I could recreate.  I know I wrote down the specific tutorial somewhere but as of the moment it escapes me but I think I actually used a video off of YouTube.    I have to get back to some prepping for my class tomorrow night.  I am so excited I have not had a class since before Halloween, had a few prepped but things came up and they were canceled, I am so glad to get back in the swing of things and a semi-normal life again. 

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UStamp With Dawn and Friends!

Oh my goodness I have some exciting news, the day that I finally started to get caught up and get back into my stamping I was asked to be a guest designer for UStamp!  I am still in shock and a little overwhelmed that I was chosen.  I have enjoyed the sessions that I have “attended” and can already tell you that this one is going to be a great one too! 

It is going to be so much fun.  We will be focusing on new items in the upcoming Occasions Mini Catalog as well as the Sale-A-Bration (SAB) catalog.

Today is the last day to sign up and receive the early bird pricing of only $19.95!  After today you can still sign up with out the discount just visit www.ustampwdawnandfriends.com. 

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MDS Christmas Recipe

This is one of my favorite holiday simple treat recipes.  I try not to make it too often becuase it is so addicting.  I am not a fan of the hard caramel corn that you can get most anywhere, this is a soft chewy caramel corn that is oh so yummy.  I got the recipe years ago somewhere off of the internet.  Anyways I did a hybrid project using My Digital Studio to create a recipe card to give to a friend. 

The colors are Wild Wasabi and Cherry Cobbler.  I printed the MDS page out at my local Costco because I just could not wait to get it done through SU! printer.  I then trimmed it up and mounted it on the Cherry Cobbler and then Wasabi cardstocks.  Then I placed a line of sticky strip on the top and bottom of the picture and poured on the Champagne Glass Glitter.  I love this glitter, it is so pretty.  In fact I just had to open up my 3 jar of it last night and it has all just been for my personal use, no classes involved.

Here is a close up of the recipe for those of you who are interested in it. 

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Fun Christmas Countdowns or Advent Calendars!

Now that we are into the full on Christmas season I have a two Christmas Advent calendars or Countdowns that I have been waiting to share.  The first is the mini muffin tin advent.

These are fun and easy to make and they are all over the internet.  I am not sure who the original creator was.  I had a great time in October teaching some ladies at work how to make these.  Just a few punches, your favorite adhesive and magnets and what a great project.  I found some scriptures that we put in the muffin wells to make this a great countdown to keep the real meaning of Christmas in mind.  There is also room in the wells to put in a little chocolate or treat.

This next countdown is counting down the 12 days of Christmas.  It uses the candy wrapper die, I created this when the die was first released and I am so excited that I came up with it all on my own I have just been sitting on it waiting to show it to you. 

Here is what it looks like hanging from my undecorated mantle. 

Here is a close up of the boxes.  I used the same numbers for both the muffin advent and this one in MDS, printed on Vanilla cardstock and then just punched them out and layered them. 

These are bigger than the muffin tin advent so you can put something a little more substantial in it.  I designed them so that you just untie the candy wrapper from the main line on the appropriate day.  Then you fold the box flat and it stores nice and compact for next year.  This is the prototype version so it is a little plain.  I have great hopes for one all decked out, I am trying to be optimistic that there will be time to get it done!

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DCBD #205 It’s a sketch

Wow, it is good to be back.  I had a great post all ready to go a few minutes ago but my husband asked me to do something for him, which he could have done for himself, and we had a brief power outage.  If I had only just hit publish instead of waiting to proof read it , there would have been a great long post for you.  Now it is getting late, it is way past my bedtime and tomorrow is an early day so here is the reader’s digest version. 

Life is hard.  

I have not had a chance to stamp in more than a month until last night.   Thank goodness I had everything ready for the Royal Blog Tour done way in advance.  I was able to get the cards and stamp sets mailed out to the winner, Holly in KY and she received them safe and sound!

I decided to start simple while jumping back into stamping and this sketch really helped that.  Here is the great Diva Sketch:

There is not all that much stamping on my card, and I was a little disappointed in that part but am happy with the card especially considering that it was my first attempt out of the gate.

And look I didn't even really have to alter the sketch!   I love this time of year and am so excited to be able to listen to Christmas songs with out being teased!  (I listen to Christmas music year round.)

Don’t forget to head over to the Diva Coffee Break Designs Blog to check out the samples that the other divas have made.  Then get out your supplies, show us what you can do with this week’s challenge and add a link to your creation for us to all see!

P.S. Sorry it has been so long since I stamped I dont remeber the names of the punch, stamp set or DSP but they are all out of the Holiday Mini catalog.  The colors are Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke and Very Vanilla.  I promise next time to have a full recipe for you. 

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