Thoughts of a Grasshopper

I'm so glad to be a part of the SUStars Christmas/Winter blog hop. This is my favorite time of year and for some reason I'm really excited for Christmas this year. Looking at this card you would think it was pretty easy to do but I have to tell you, I did this card several times before I was happy with it. Stamps: Tags til Christmas, Peaceful Season CS: Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, VV Ink: Early Espresso, VersaMark Misc.: Detail Gold EP, Metallic Brads, Vanilla Taffeta, Neutrals Brads, Ornament punch, Rhinestone Jewels Your next stop on the hop is Courtney at Brighten Your Day the Stampin' Up! Way! If you are just joining, you can keep going or start at the beginning at the SU Stars blog .

I'm all about the Bells & Boughs set lately. This set is so versatile, which is fabulous if you are making a lot of Christmas cards. I stamped the holly in Artichoke on the Crumb Cake CS. The greeting I did in Early Espresso. The dot design on the VV is in Cherry as well as the dots on the circle. The solid lines on the circle are done in Artichoke. I punched both the vanilla and cherry circle with the 1-1/2" circle punch. I trimmed the VV circle around the stamped image so it would be framed by the cherry cobbler CS. Stamps: Bells & Boughs, Welcome Christmas, Frames with a Flourish CS: Crumb Cake, VV, Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, watercolor paper Ink: Early Espresso, Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler Circle Punches: 1-3/4, 1-1/2

I don't know what it is, but Christmas and all that goes with it seems to be coming earlier for me this year. I'm as behind as ever on my card making but I can't wait to start decorating, to get the tree up, enjoy the lights, parties, friends, and everything else wonderful about Christmas. My kids started practicing Christmas songs a couple of weeks ago for piano and my older two have been singing for their Christmas concert or practicing pieces for their Winter Concert. That helps in getting Christmas going around here. A fairly simple card to make today. I pulled out a sheet of each DP from the Deck the Halls pack and used 2 different designs on this card. I took my exacto knife to cut around the poinsettia flowers to fit the music in. Stamps: Bells & Boughs CS: Crumb, Cake, Cherry Cobbler, VV, Deck the Halls DP Ink: Early Espresso, Always Artichoke, Crumb Cake Misc.: neutrals brads, Kraft taffeta ribbon

For the OWH blog hop, I considered just stamping hearts across a card and adding a sentiment. Obviously, I didn't do it. It cracked me up when I was looking through my e-mail and saw that Kelly had this card on her blog finds of the day list. Since I had the set out, I CASEd it. Stamps: I {Heart} Hearts, Heard from the Heart CS: VV, Riding Hood Red Ink: Riding Hood Red Misc.: Dimensionals I think Tamye used the heart punch that SU sells. I don't have that punch *gasp* so I just cut the heart from the friend and used the scrap as my stencil to cut one from vanilla.

You're probably thinking "Valentine's Day . . . Seriously?!" It seems like the focus just turned to Christmas and now I'm fast forwarding a couple of months. The reason for this jump is that for the troops overseas, the deadline for us to make Christmas cards for them to use has come and gone. If you plan to make Valentine's Day cards for Operation Write Home (OWH ), the deadline is January 7th. I have two Valentine's Day cards to share today. Stamps: Greeting Card Kids, Well Scripted CS: Rose Red, VV, Elegant Eggplant, Soft Subtles Patterns DP Ink/Markers: Baja Breeze, Elegant Eggplant, Rose Red, Blush Blossom, Crumb Cake Punches: Heart border, large oval, decorative label Misc.: Deck the Halls designer button, Basic Pearl Jewels, dimensionals, glue dots, Victoria ribbon This next card is pretty much a case of Ilina Crouse. I used different DP and colors but the layout is hers. Stamps: I {heart} Hearts, Tiny Tags CS: VV, Riding Hood Red, Basic ...

When I was at JoAnn's buying fabric for my girls' costumes, I saw this material and loved it. I used the square scallop die from Stampin' Up! to make the squares. I loved how quick it was with the die cutting through 8 layers of fabric at once. I used a jumbo button from the Deck the Halls Big Designer Button pack. After I had the button sewn on, I put an antique brad through the center to add a little something. Just because I think my girls were so stinkin' cute for Halloween as Snap, Crackle & Pop, here they are. My son it too old to dress out it seems.

Apparently washer necklaces were "the thing" to do last year. Somehow, I missed that. However, when I saw a few recently, I liked them and wanted to give them a try. I plan to make some for the girls (8-11 yr. olds) I work with at church. I'm so glad that I have StazOn in 8 different colors. I plan to add some bling to their washer necklace too. I made mine double-sided so that if it flips over, it won't matter. On the girls, I plan to use DP on one side and the other side will be stamped.

I have admired the Simply Adored product line but never purchased it because it was low on my wish list. With the bundle that they are offering, I decided to go for it. I'm so glad I did. I made this through a Stampin' Up! tutorial, which was great. I need to practice some designs for a small area. Maybe I should have joined that inchies swap . . . hmm. Stamps: Charming CS: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler Ink: More Mustard Markers: Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke Misc.: 24" chain, 1-1/4 x 1" charm, clear bauble, vanilla ribbon, basic pearls, scallop ribbon punch, Moonlight Smooch

I fell in love with this set when it came out. It takes me back to Christmas decorations when I was a child and all the decorating we did. Our house looked amazing every Christmas (still does ). A very simple card that you could make a lot of if you need to. Stamps: Bells & Boughs CS & Markers: Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake Misc.: Deck the Halls buttons, linen thread, 1-3/4 inch circle punch, XL scallop punch, red jewels

October ended up being a crazy busy month but it is behind me now. It seems odd to think that it is slowing down when preparations for the holidays begin, but seriously, it was THAT busy. Since my last post, this is my favorite card I made. I love the sparkle of the Smooch Spritz on the bashful blue cardstock. It looks really nice with the metallic thread around the main image too. I'm breaking my arm patting myself on the back on this one. It is a simple card, but it looks so pretty in person (not too shabby here either). If you click on the picture, you will see hints of swirls in the picture (the top right shows it best). I used the Northern Frost Strip to cut out the snowflakes from a cereal box. I placed some snowflakes on top the texture plate before putting my cardstock on and running it through the big shot. I wanted the illusion of snow falling and the wind blowing. I had to choose, show you the sparkle or show the swirls when I took the picture and I'm all a...