Yes, Virginia...

it is an Ipod. :-)

Ali likes the Rudolph card that I made for her.

We wanted to get a photo of Dixie, our foster dog Frederick, and the in-laws' dog Sparky. Here's Ali trying to wrangle the dogs into position. (P.S. It didn't work!)

The obligatory annual "family in front of the tree" photo:

Later in the day, we went to my SIL & BIL's for Christmas dinner. Here's Ali opening presents with her cousin, Katie.

Another annual tradition... the Thompson family portrait. (Including dogs!)


Merry Christmas!

Color Challenge

This month's Bellaholics Color Challenge is brown, turquoise and white. I didn't have anything that was truly turquoise, so I used aqua. (I think turquoise is a little bluer.) Here's my card:


Here's another Bella. I used this for Jessica's Christmas card - she got a blue Ipod for Christmas.

This is Ali's Christmas card. She loves to watch all the old Christmas specials with me. These are 3 individual stamps. I drew the "ground" to make it look more like a scene and not just like they were all just "floating". I had a lot of fun with glitter, dimensional glaze (deer noses & hooves, Santa's boots) and Fun Flock (deer chest/tails & Santa's beard). Ali loves Santa's fuzzy beard.


A few tips: when buying glitter at the craft store, check out the fabric art aisle. "Stamping glitter" was $1.99 for .25 oz. Tulip "fabric glitter" was $2.99 for .63 oz. Fabric glitter worked the same for me.

Also, before using glitter, wipe your cardstock with a "stamping buddy" (little bag of silica). This makes it much easier to brush off stray bits when you're done applying the glitter.

The Payoff

As much as I dread cleaning my craft space, it's always so nice to be able to get in there and actually find and create stuff! I had a lot of partially finished projects that I was able to finally complete. I made a set of these cards, featuring the Fall Harvest set (one of my favorites).

And I finally finished my "November" cards for the Split Coast Stampers Christmas Card Challenge. I received these images in the last image swap on the Bellaholics list and had enough there to make my 10 cards for the challenge.

Look What Santa Brought...

No, not really. ;-) He's our latest foster dog, Frederick, a 2 year old lab mix. We just picked him up today; he's got kennel cough. Poor thing feels really bad - except for a few "potty" trips outside, he hasn't budged off that rug since we got home at 2 P.M.


I'm hoping the antibiotics will kick in quickly and, after some rest, he'll feel a little more chipper. He's a real sweetie!

Yet more holiday music!

Ali had her very first school choir concert last Thursday. She loves her choir program and was excited to have her first performance. I surprised her with a rose. She loved it.


Here's the choir getting us all in the mood for a Swinging Holiday!

More Christmas Music!

Yes, it's definitely holiday concert season!

Last night was Jessica's band concert. Here's the band playing Good King Wenceles and a variation on a French Carol (I don't remember which is which):





This one I *know* is Sleigh Ride:



Tonight is Ali's choir concert. This is her first year in choir and she's very excited!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

With these sudden cold temps, it certainly FEELS like Christmas! Now it smells, sounds and looks like Christmas, too. :-)

Last Wednesday was Jessica's school choir holiday concert. Here they are singing Carol of the Bells, a WJHS tradition:



There's not much "video" here - it was too dark, but here they are again singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" at the local tree lighting:



Here they are singing "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas":



We also went on Saturday and cut down our Christmas tree:

I'm happy to say that almost all my holiday shopping and mailing is DONE! :) Here's this year's card:

I have also been busy baking Christmas cookies. Four kinds made so far! These are a family favorite from the Nestle site:

Chocolate-Studded Dream Cookies

Yields - 42 cookies (3 1/2 dozen)

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Baking Cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® SWIRLED™ Semi-Sweet & Premier White Morsels, divided

COMBINE flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in 1 cup morsels. Drop by well-rounded teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheets. Top with remaining morsels (approx. 4 – 5 per cookie).BAKE at 325 degrees for 11 – 13 minutes or until cookies are puffed and centers are set. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

These are the best chocolate cookies ever!

An Easy Way to Help the Animals

Please visit The Animal Rescue Site to help support homeless animals! After clicking to help provide food, please be sure to vote for a shelter. If you don't have a local shelter you'd like to support, please vote for the Central Missouri Humane Society. The shelter has been struggling financially to be able to keep their doors open. Please help!

Thank you! (Dixie says thank you, too!)

Stamp A Stack

I held a Stamp A Stack at my house today where people could come & make cards using stamps and other products from The Angel Company. Here are the four cards we made today:

This card is my version of the snowflake card on Amy Rysvay's blog, Prairie Paper & Ink:

This card is a variation of the card on page 101 of the current TAC catalog:

Here's my October card for the Christmas Card Challenge on SplitCoastStameprs. I really did make the cards in October. I just haven't had time to photograph one! I gave most of them to the Humane Society. They sell the cards at the shelter & keep the money to help take care of the animals.

Santa stamp from Rubber Hedgehog. (Check out all their animal stamps!)

Square Calendar

I have lots of projects to share - the problem has been finding the time to photograph them and put them on my blog. :sigh:

Here's another calendar that I made with my Bind It All.

(Click on the photo to see the album with photographs of all the calendar pages.)

Square Calendar

Paper: TAC's "Rustic Chic" (lots of variety in one paperstack)
Stamps: TAC (stamp set used on calendar pages is discontinued)

Friday Fun

This still cracks me up!

Paper and Pawprints

I've been so busy lately, I haven't had any time at all to take pictures to share! I am actually finding myself with a pretty relaxed weekend (perhaps Fate's attempt to prevent me from having a nervous breakdown? lol) so here goes...

First, the "paper" part of my post - some recent stamping projects. Here's a duplicate of a birthday card that I made for my MIL a week ago:

I love that stamp set. It's designed by Mabelle Ramirez Ortiz. Check out her website: Whimsy and Stars Studios. Heres another variation of the card:

The brown cardstock is from TAC. The rest of the paper is from my huge stash of scraps. Ribbon from Hobby Lobby. Brads from either HL or Michael's - I don't remember. Images colored in with Prismacolor pencils (including a blender pencil).

Here's an A2 (4X5.5) calendar that I made with my Bind It All. (I love that thing!!) I first saw this calendar on the blog, "Confessions of a Ribbon Addict". Rather than spend the $4 for the calendar download on the Amuse site, I decided to make my own calendar pages. I figured "How hard can that be?" ha! ha! (It wasn't actually hard, but more time consuming you'd think getting things right.)

All supplies (except ribbon) by The Angel Company. Paper: A Little Whimsy, stamps: Spring Dream (cover) and Curls & Swirls (inside), cardstock: DCWV, ribbon: Michael's (?). Images are colored with a combination of Tombow and Copic markers and Prismacolor pencils. Scallop circle punch by Stampin' Up!

Lastly, here's a Christmas gift bag I made for a swap. (If you've participated in Avis' giftbag swap and don't want a peek, don't look any further!)

And now for the "pawprints" portion of my post... We've had our share lately of foster dogs, as well.

First, there was May May. Most of the time she really didn't look that much like Tasha. (May May was bigger, leaner with longer, floppier ears) but sometimes, boy did she remind me of Tash. There was a time I couldn't have fostered May May because it would've made me miss Tash too much.

She was certainly not the most cooperative photography subject. Here's Jessica (unsuccessfully) trying to get her to pose for the camera:

As you can tell, May May was a pretty big girl - and she was only 7 months old! Next was Daisy. She had just as much energy as May May but it's a little easier to handle in a much smaller package. :-)

She was an even less cooperative subject. This blurry photo is my only shot!

Our current foster is a 3 month old puppy (beagle/terrier mix, per the shelter) named Taz. He is SO sweet! I have to sneak up on him when he's asleep/resting to get a better picture. He's a real cuddler and only wanted to lay on my lap. Not the easiest angle to get a good picture...

He's all black (except for some white on his chest), so it's hard to see his features. He is cutie in person. The girls have been bugging me for ages to foster a puppy so he was our "experiment" to see how much they'd help watch/take care of one. He is a very easy puppy so they're passing this test with flying colors. (Oh what have I set myself up for?! lol!)

Time to think about going to bed. Jess is marching in the MU homecoming parade tomorrow, so it's an early start for us. It's supposed to get really chilly, too. Yuck! I am not ready for cold weather yet! (Not that I ever am ready, but...)

Santa's Workshop

I've been busy stamping for Christmas lately. Here are some projects.

This is a gift card holder. For directions, check out Cambria Turnbow's blog (http://cambriaturnbow.blogspot.com/2008/10/quickie-gift-cards.html). All supplies are from The Angel Company (TAC), featuring Amelia cardstock, large eyelet, ribbon and printed paper, Palette Burnt Umber and Jardin Moss inks, Holiday Cheer and a swirl stamp set from the last catalog.

This is a photo holder made from a large binder clip. All supplies by TAC (Amelia cardstock, ribbon and printed paper/tag, Matte Heritage brads, Holiday Cheer stamp set, Palette Burnt Umber ink).

I've also been keeping up with my monthly Christmas Card Challenges. Here's my September card. The snowman is from a discontinued TAC set. I love him! He's so cute and very quick to color. I used my Cuttlebug swirl embossing folder on the Scarlet cardstock. I use that embossing folder more than any other one. It's so versatile.

Have a great week! (Is it Friday yet?! lol!)

A serious moment

I try to avoid posting anything on my blog that someone might take offense to.

But I lay awake at 4:30 this morning, worrying about this. So I'm going to ask you to please read and consider my request.

Thank you.
Lisa
- - - -

In an election where both sides pledged to be civil, to run a campaign based on issues, not personal attacks, how did we wind up here?

Supporters at recent McCain rallies have been quoted shouting “Terrorist” and “Kill him!” (referring to Barack Obama). Is a candidate responsible for the words of everyone who shows up at a campaign event? No. But they are responsible for the rhetoric that incites such hatred and violence. They are responsible for saying “No. Stop it. This is not OK and I will not tolerate this.”

Maybe you don’t agree with Barack Obama’s policies. Maybe you think his presidency would be disastrous for the country. But remember that Barack Obama is not just a politician. He is someone’s husband, brother, grandchild, father.

To Michelle Obama, Barack isn’t a presidential candidate. He’s the man she fights with, laughs with, makes babies with. The one she intends to spend the rest of her life with. Michelle Obama already had concerns about her husband running for President. Imagine the fear and worry that runs through her heart and her mind when she hears people calling for the death of her husband.

To Malia and Sasha Obama, he isn’t a presidential candidate. He’s Daddy. I know the Obamas try to keep their daughters shielded from the harsher realities of political life. But we all know that our kids don’t live in a bubble. Imagine how they would feel hearing someone called their Daddy a terrorist. Or shouting death threats. Worse yet, imagine those two innocent little girls having to be told that their Daddy has been killed. That he’ll never be there again to tuck them in and kiss them good night, to watch them graduate college, to walk down the aisle, to tell their own funny “ride home from the hospital with the new baby” story.

So, regardless of your political affiliation, your religion, your social views, or the color of your skin, please demand that there be a stop to this before someone gets hurt. Contact the McCain campaign (http://www.johnmccain.com), your local government representatives, your local paper… whoever it takes to get the candidates talking about the issues, not each other.

Challenge Card

The first of our Bellaholic challenges was an embellishment challenge. We had to make something (didn't have to be a card) with a stamped Bella image, ribbon and at least 5 buttons. I knew Fashionistabella would be perfect for this!

Have a nice week! I promise to get that pocket tutorial up soon.

Happy Fall Y'All!

Here's another card that I made with "Fall Harvest" from the new Angel Company Fall Supplement:


The pumpkins on pocket were stamped in one color (Palette Orangerie). The brown stems and green vines were added with Prismacolor pencils. (I got the idea from this card on Heather Scott's blog.)


I had fun coming up with this pocket design on my own. Later this week I'll post a tutorial to make the pocket.

I've put my Bind It All to good use, getting ready for a craft show this weekend. I made a ton of notepads (thanks Lisa H for the chipboard covers!!). Here's a batch made with stamps from The Angel Company. (The two birds are from sets in the Fall Supplement.)
Here's another batch, featuring Bella stamps on notepads in the bottom row:

(The kitty is a Fluffles stamp by Stampendous. The dog is from a retired TAC set.)

Making these notepads was FUN! I can't wait to get my hands on some more chipboard.

3 Little Birdies

I made this set of 3 cards featuring one of the new Fall Supplement sets, "Fall Harvest". It's a very versatile set - look for more card samples later this week.

Here is a close up of one of the cards:

All the printed paper is from one paper collections - "Rustic Chic". It's one of my favorites because of the variety of colors & prints. The ribbon is from Bags and Bows. (Thanks Lisa H for coordinating that ribbon purchase!)

Rounding up some money for a good cause

Ali's school has a Relay for Life team and they always have fun events throughout the school year for the kids to help raise money. Yesterday was "Western Day". The kids got to dress up in Western wear if they brought in 25 cents. Here's my little cowgirl:


Daddy braided her hair. He did a good job, didn't he? (Sad to say, I am pretty inept at hair stuff.)

I did my own good deed yesterday and I gave blood at a blood drive at the school where I work. (And got this t-shirt.) I've wanted to donate again and it was just so convenient having it at work. Once again, my "slow bleeding-ness" made me the object of a little extra scrutiny, though. At one point, I had 3 blood collection techs watching my blood drip into the bag. (Were they trying to will it to flow a little faster? lol)

Visit the Red Cross "Give Life" donation site to find a blood drive near you. It doesn't take long (especially once you do it and get a donor card) and doesn't cost you a thing. A very easy way to make a difference and save a life!

Quote of the week...

I'm currently reading "The Whistling Season" for my book club. This passage made me chuckle:

"...Father did make one last try at grasping Rose's cookery-free existence:

'But you were a married woman - how on earth did you and Mr. Llewellyn eat?'

'Out'

LOL! My kinda woman. :-)

Red cards

I made a set of cards for my Mom as part of her Christmas present. No two are the same, but they're all predominantly red - her favorite color. Here are my 4 favorites.


The scroll paper is from a discontinued Basic Grey collection. I love that paper and was really bummed when they discontinued it. :-(



I love this Bella stamp! I had to buy it the last time I placed a Bella order. I wish the lighting on this had been a little better. DH just bought me some new stuff for photographing my cards and I'm still getting used to it. Anyway, this card is made with 2 of my favorite cardstocks from The Angel Company - Scarlet and Brown. Both are such deep, rich colors! The Scarlet is very heavy and crisp - it takes such a gorgeous impression in my Cuttlebug. (It's hard to see, but I used the swirl folder on the red layer.)



This is one of my favorite all-time Angel Company stamps, Gerbera Daisy. I think it's fun to color and it's such a generic image that I can use it for a lot of different cards.



I think Bikeabella is so much fun! I love the little dog in her bicycle basket. :-) Hmmm, I don't think that would work with Dixie (my 70+ pound lab)! I absolutely love the striped paper, but it's something I found in the dollar spot at Target a few years ago, so I will never see it again. Bummer.