Cheap Wine and Small Diamonds

I just couldn't resist working with this Rubber Romance Diva. By the way, I am not affiliated with this company in any way! This Diva is Samantha, and doesn't she just have attitude? The saying is also from the Rubber Romance company. Thanks to Texas Jody Lynn, I finally figured out how to really showcase these divas. They need a little more room that a regular size card allows. The sentiment says Life is too short for cheap wine and small diamonds! Visit Jody's blog for some fantastic inspiration! She's a rock star to me!
Recipe
This is a 5 1/2 inch square card
Card Stock: Basic Black, Ruby Red, Vanilla, DP from Target
Ink: Basic Black, Ruby Red, SU Markers
Stamps: Rubber Romance Samantha and sentiment
Embellies: Sheer Black Ribbon, stickles, brads, rhinestone

Mama's Boy

Meet Mama's Boy. He was a gift from my two sons, and i just had to share this with you. My 19 and 16 year old sons asked me what i wanted for Christmas. I told them that what i really wanted was a long plane grater...you know the one that Martha and Rachel always use? So off they go to the Westchester Mall. They came back with all sorts of bags and boxes and made me leave the kitchen so I wouldn't see what they were coming in with. They had this big box covered with their jackets. I'm not allowed into the dinning room where they are wrapping their gifts...i kept trying to sneak a peek, but they had their sisters guarding the door. So this odd shaped box gets wrapped and put under the tree. I couldn't figure out for the life of me what it could be...it was big and it had a funny shape.
Christmas morning while we were exchanging gifts i just had to open this one first because the shape of the box had me so intrigued! When i opened the box it was a bear from Build a Bear workshop, and they dressed it so cute, and it even speaks...Merry Christmas Mom, love, John and Stephen. I started cracking up. I just pictured the two of them in the build a bear store running around picking out the skin, the heart, the stuffing. The worker made them close their eyes, kiss the heart and put it into the bear. Now these are two big guys. Both of them are over 6 foot tall, and the younger guy is like a bull in a china shop. he's huge. I just thought that it was so sweet of them! I wish that i had a video of them in the Build a Bear Store. how funny would that be? LOL!
My one daughter gave me a gift certificate for a mani and pedi, and my other daughter made me a beautiful pendant in jewelry class at school. And my husband was just so wonderful. he stuffed my stocking with the Rubber Romance Stamps and a check made out to Cruise One to pay off my balance for the cruise that i am going on next October with Gina K, Emmiebella and Michele...plus a whole bunch of wonderful cosmetics and creams from the Borghesse LIne. He knows i love to pamper myself that way, and since i started stamping...well let's just say that i haven't been into Bloomingdales in 2 years!
I'm going into my studio to work with another Rubber Romance Diva and then i have to make some thank you cards. I'll post when i've got the creative juices flowing!

Gossip Time

This is another stamp that i found in my stocking by Rubber Romance! It's called Gossip Time.
Recipe:
cardstock: choc chip, white, old olive, close to cocoa, basic gray Urban Couture
Stamps: Rubber Romance Gossip Time
Ink: SU markers
Embellies: stickles, prima crystal flower, SU ribbon, K&C Company purse sticker

Ally

This is Ally. She's a new Rubber Romance girl. I really love these images...

We had a terrific Christmas. The Sunday before Christmas, on the 23rd, i had my husbands family over. We were 38 people. It's my new tradition, and I've been doing it for the last 3 years. This way, there is no excuses as to why we all can't be together at the same time! It works out so well. The only glitch was that the Sunday before Christmas was actually the Sunday before Christmas! And on Christmas Eve i was celebrating with my side of the family at my house. So 38 people on Sunday, 19 on Monday and a mere 8 on Christmas day. I feel like someone beat me up. i'm exhausted...but i had a wonderful time celebrating all three days with family and friends!
As tired as i am, i just had to play with a new stamp that i found in my stocking! There were quite a few of them in my stocking so i expect in the next few days to be playing with these new girls.

Dresses and shoes

I am still making Christmas Cards.the cards below are not for Christmas! Yikes. My son is home from college and he was showing some of my cards to his friends. They have all asked me to make them each a card to give to their parents for Christmas. Isn't that sweet. One of his friends offered to pay me $10 for one card. I told him that i wouldn't charge him, he just had to do stuff for me. My daughter started laughing and said, Mom, you're always asking our friends to do things for you! LOL! and she's right!
I was trying to clean up my stamping room, it's a disaster and came accross a card that i cased from the SCS gallery. It was so long ago that i don't know who to give the credit to. It's pictured below.



I enjoyed working on the first card that i came up with this one. I got my inspiration from the card above and a dress form that i have. You can see the dress form in the background of the pictures of my mom, i think...



Recipe:
Stamps: In Style, Safari BG stamp
Card Stock: more mustard, black, glossy white
Ink: more mustard, basic black, real red, close to cocoa
Embellies: Black ribbon, Funky yarn
I sponged the glossy white with more mustard and close to cocoa until the paper was completely full of color. I then stamped the safari bg stamp in black over the sponged paper. I think that this technique is called frosting.
thanks for looking!

Our Family A.K.A The Elves

This is our family Christmas Card. We send out 300 cards every year so i did not make them...I ordered them! LOL! These are my 4 wonderful and delightful teenagers also know as the elves, taken this summer at Montauk Beach, New York.
From my Family to Yours! Have a Very Merry Christmas! and a Happy , Healthy New Year

Big Daddy

This is probably the last Christmas Card that i will be making for this year. I think that i've saved the best for last. This is for my husband, Steve, who I always call Big Daddy. He's the best! he's kind, considerate, very generous, a wonderful husband and an excellent father. He's the love of my life. I know that he will love this card. He's proud of what i do, and shows off my cards to everyone...

For the flowers, OMG, what a pain...i stamped 4 images, water colored and then used crystal effects on the main image. I then cut out the other 3 images, so that the leaves could move, and used crystal effects again on all the images. IRL the flowers have a 3 dimensional look. I'm very happy with this card and can't wait to give it to him on Christmas morning! Thanks for looking...gotta go back to the kitchen and start baking!

Recipe
Cardstock: Old Olive, River Rock, Purely Pom, white, and SU Holiday Harmony
Ink: Old Olive, Purely Pom, Basic Black
Stamps: Hero Arts Poinsetter, and Michaels Sentiment
Embellies: Gold Organza ribbon, gold cording, glittered berries, and leaves

Baby It's Cold Outside!

In between shopping and wrapping more gifts here's another card that i made with some of those new stamps that arrived last week. This one is called Baby It's Cold Outside from My Favorite Things. Isn't it cute? Do you think that i have a theme going on here with all the snowman stamps? LOL!

Recipe:
Stamps: Baby It's Cold Outside
Cardstock: Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, White
Ink: Basic Black, Bashful Blue, Night of Navy
Embellies: glitter glue, Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder, ribbon

The Elves were on strike

it's been a little while since i last posted anything, but i have to tell you that the elves were on strike...it took much negotiating to get them to work and i just wouldn't cross the picket line. the elves demands were not met and yet we were able to get them back to work...so far so good. The tree is up and decorated, the gifts are wrapped and under the tree...and the stockings are hung by the chimney with care.

Today we were all inside. the weather is miserable...ice storms...hate ice, but love snow! anyway, i got a chance to work on some things without being interrupted. I have 15 nieces and nephews and they are all getting cash this Christmas. The money will go right into these envies. Directions were posted for these in an earlier post. I just love this Michael's $1 Merry Christmas stamp and aren't the little stocking stickers so cute?

Recipe:

Real Red Card Stock, SU Dashing DP, Scallop punch, circle punches and stocking embellies.

I also got to work with a new stamp set that i had ordered, and finally set up my Janome Mini Sewing machine.

Isn't this snowman image adorable? The snowman is from Fire Cracker Designs...i have no affiliation to this company in any way...the stamps arrived very quickly. and i am very happy with the quality.

Recipe:

Cardstock: Night of Navy, Bashful blue, white, designer DP

Ink: Basic Black, bashful blue, night of navy, only orange

Stamps : Chin UP by Firecracker Designs

Embellies: May Arts Ribbon, glitter glue, and stranded faux pearls

There's still so much left to do and only so many days to do it. I'll try to post again before Christmas. If I don't get the chance let me say it now, Merry Christmas to all. xoxo

Blog Candy Winner

Hi everyone,

the lucky winner of the blog candy by random draw is #4!

Stampin' Meg said...
Good luck with the crafts fair. I am so sorry to hear about your friends hubby.

Please send me an email to Gabbie96@aol.com with your snail mail address so that i can mail out these goodies to you!

Holly Berry Snowman

He's so cute, isn't he? I'm in love with this stamp set, Let it Snow by Gina K. Designs. lol! so there's more to come for sure! I just had to share this one with you. thanks for looking!
Recipe:
Stamps...Gina K Designs, Let It Snow, SU Peaceful Wishes
Paper....cranberry crisp, true thyme, retired SU dp, white
Ink...black, ruby red, always artichoke, basheful blue
Embellies....dazzling diamonds, ribbon, paper clip swirl

My First Gina K design!

I'm so excited. Remember the other night when nothing was on tv and i went surfing on the Internet? well, my stamps are finally arriving! I still haven't played with my mini Janome sewing machine. I think i'm afraid of it! lol! anyway, here is a quick card that i made, in between addressing Christmas Cards and decorating my house....so much left to do....it'll get done... the elves should be here any day now. I had fun playing with this stamp set. It's called let it snow, by Gina K. I really want to play more tonight, but my daughter is being recognized tonight at an awards ceremony for Scholar Athletes! I'm so proud of her!

Recipe

Card stock : Bashful Blue, true thyme, black and confetti white. SU dp

Stamps: Let it Snow by Gina K Designs

Embellies: SU snowflake punch, May Arts Polka Dot Ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds, Stickles, black rhinestones, and glittered Christmas Tree pick, strand of pearls to make snowballs

Sympathy for a friend

Melissa, one of my SBS sisters has requested a RAK for her neighbor. This is such a hard time of the year to loose someone close to you. Here's the card I made.

I never include a recipe but thought i might start doing that so here it is:

Paper...Black, gray, Blue, glossy white

Ink...Gray

Stamp....Lovely as a tree

I used the cuttlebug script folder and then used the gray ink dtp. The image was stamped using the soot technique, which i found in the techniques section on SCS. Very cool technique.

Thanks for looking.

The Case of the Missing Christmas Tree

Hello! What a day it was yesterday! LMAO! My sister in law and I were doing a craft fair holiday boutique in New York City. It was hosted by a well know advertising agency in the "Village". You know how when you unload all your stuff from the car, you can make several trips in and out to where you're going, you know just walk in with the boxes in your arms...well not so in swanky NYC. The buildings have codes...so all of your product that you are selling must be discretely packed away in suitcases! LOL! NO hand trucks unless you use the freight elevator...and that can be around the block from the building entrance. We had about 20 sets of the tumbled marble coasters in one roll away bag, and we had all the cards and other stuff in two giant roll away bags. My sister in law made this gorgeous mini Christmas tree to sell. It was so pretty. that was not in a bag!

Ok here we go. we pull up to the building, unload mega bags, display stands, baskets and the christmas tree. The bag with the tiles comes out of the truck with a thud on my sil's foot. OUCH!She's limping and I am on watch by the bags while my sil parks the car, around the block. Ok now what to do....I have to move all these bags out of traffic, closer to the building by myself. I could have used three big men to help me move all this stuff. It took me three trips! My sil finally meets me, and we proceed up to the 7th floor....just getting into the elevator with everything was an amazing feat. I tripped over a bag and landed right on top of it...sprawled out...embarrassed....laughing! we get buzzed in and set everything up and i turn to my sil and say, where's the tree? OMG! WHERE'S THE TREE? The tree was gone...vanished into thin air...poof...
I wanted to cry, i know how hard she worked on the tree. she just laughed about it. She figured that somebody who really needed a tree for their apartment took it cause they REALLY needed it. I think someone got into a cab with it while my back was turned hauling our other luggage! That person better be on Santa's naughty list!

We laughed most of the day about that tree. Laughed even harder when my sil removed her boot and sock to see if she had a broken toe, and went into hysterics when we counted our loot! it wasn't even enough to cover our parking for the day!

No New Stamps Yet! But More Candy!

My new stamp sets have not arrived, and well i am so anxious to play with them...and it's not like i really have the time to play, i just want to.

Yesterday was spent with my friend Cathy whose husband has cancer...she is just hopeful that he will make it until January and that he will go peacefully. It is so sad. I cooked all day for her...it's what we Italians do!

Today I am spending with my sister in laws and my sister, and tomorrow I will be behind a table at a Craft Fair in New York City. I'm really excited about that. After the craft fair my husband is going to meet me and we're going to a famous restaurant called Delmonico's and then to see the tree!

I'll work on some projects this weekend and post them as soon as I can! Thanks to all of you for listening to me today.

Oh...and since i'm close to 2000 visits I've decided to give away some more Blog Candy. Got Primas? I do! Leave a comment and you may have some too. I'll pick a winner by random draw on Tuesday! Just wait to see what i do when i hit 5000! LOL!

Some new stamps are on their way!

I promised myself that i would hold off on ordering some new stamps, well just for a little while anyway, but then last night...there was nothing on the boob tube so i went searching. I ordered quite a few new stamp sets. i'll be posting as soon as they come in. I'll try to play with them and use my new toy....the Janome sew mini! Tomorrow night is the cocktail party over at MFT on SCS, and Friday Bella has a surprise for everyone...if you don't want to exhaust your wallet...stay away from the forums at SCS! There was so much more that i wanted to order...but does anyone else get annoyed when the shipping is like 1/2 the cost of what the order is?... why do they charge $4.95 to mail a set of acrylic stamps. doesn't make me want to make that purchase. YKWIM?

I've got a few very busy days coming up so i might not be posting for a few days. Tomorrow i am visiting with a friend whose husband has cancer and it doesn't look very good. I will be going over to see her, keep her company and make some meals for her and her daughter. Thursday I have a Holiday Luncheon ... that should be fun! and then Friday, I am in New York City....at a Craft Fair...trying to sell some stuff! LOL! Hopefully it'll be better than the last one! it's exhausting! Wish me luck, and thanks for looking and listening!

I'm Cheating!

I have been so tired lately...isn't this the most crazy time of the year? So much to do and very limited time to do it in. So i've decided to cheat! Yes, i said cheat! I found these gorgeous Christmas picks at Michael's the other day on sale! and thought to myself, these would make beautiful embellies on some Christmas cards. The picture is a little blurry...but irl it looks lovely. I have to make about 20 of these. I think that i will be sending them out to my family for our Christmas Brunch. Thanks for looking...more coming....i've just received my new toy and will try to play with it later on....what's my new toy...a Janome Mini!