Eek! I joined Stampin' Up!

I don't normally do things like this but after several catalog flip throughs, I did it.

I really like their products and their ink pads are killer.  No really.  I finally found an ink pad I *want* to use.  No more streaky images.  No more bleeding.

So I did it.  I signed up under someone I met at a retreat that I kind of co-host here in the southland.  I started off slow but I'm gearing up now.  I've hit my groove and I'm ready to inspire.  Its also helped me creatively.  I don't always have time for the layouts and mini's but I can stamp a quick something when I have a few minutes.

I've started selling all of my other ink pads on Ebay because I just don't use them.  I have this habit of buying every color of an ink pad because I like the color on the lid.  I don't however, like the finished image.  So all of my Jenni Bowlin and Studio Calico pads are for sale.  So are some of my SC Stamps from old kits.  Seller name is rascal1004 on Ebay if you're interested.

I've been having a blast with the Stamping' Up! products though.  There are ideas everywhere and its fun to try new things before branching out.  I've used some of their items to make things for the retreat goers and they love them!  So much fun to hear them talk about the idea and want to know how it was done.

My personal site is:

Stampin' With Erica

I'll be posting weekly updates here on the blog as I create things, sales or specials come up etc.  They usually post Weekly Deals which are marked down items that you can get at a discounted price.  I picked up a few of the Halloween Wreath kits from last season for less than $11!

Grab your kit here.

The annual holiday catalog is already out and can be viewed on my site as well.  LOTS of fun ideas posted in there.  These items are limited so you don't want to wait for those.

I'll be posting some ideas from this catalog next Monday so look for that!

December Daily

I feel weird just typing that.  It's almost March.  I started this project right before 'the move'.  I kept an Iris tote out while I packed my room.  It held my supplies for the album and a few tools, just what I would need to finish.

Somehow, the stress of the move, the holidays and work sucked the creativity right out of me.  I put that Iris tote in a dark corner and let it be.

I took pictures of our Elf's adventures because he was the one constant this year.  I have slowly started uploading photos of his antics off my phone and sending them off to Persnickety Prints for printing.

Here is what I've finished so far.

 I used a Simple Stories Sn@p album.  You can see the supply pictures in this post.

 Studio Calico star transparency tucked in a pocket with Studio Calico veneer stars, sequins and Chic Tags veneer.

 Chic Tags tags.

 I believe the map paper is October Afternoon.  Geo tag veneer is Studio Calico and I added the gold enamel dot.  The gold stars on the map paper are from Chic Tags rub on sheet.  Bottom half is Chic Tags Good Tidings paper, OA tag and Websters Pages bow clip.

 Mixture of Chic Tags and October Afternoon.

 Maya Road craft envelope.  I swapped out the red twine for the natural jute.  I punched holes so I could add it as a page in the album to store extra photos of the holiday house we visit every year.  Heidi Swapp glitter text sticker, OA sticker letters and Chic Tags veneer.

 I adhered a photo of us to the back.

 More gold rubons from Chic Tags, OA tags and a flair button.

More Chic Tags, October Afternoon (elf sticker) and the American Crafts gold Thickers.  The gold alphas are Chic Tags.  All Chic Tags products are from their Good Tidings collection.

I am busy finishing up the next group of pages for the book and I'll share them as soon as I'm done.

Waiting.....

I'm the instant gratification type of person.  I don't like to wait, I don't like surprises.  You know Christmas was hard for me as a kid right?  My mom used to have the best hiding places for my presents.  I wasn't allowed in our garage once and I swore I was getting a mini fridge for my bedroom.  I swore.  So when the really expensive white wicker bookshelf showed up, I was pretty bummed.  Don't get me wrong, I loved that bookshelf and it held all of my precious books, but man, I wanted that mini fridge.

I had to wait until I got to college for one of those suckers.  It was my prized possession for 4 years.

Anyway, the waiting part.  So right now, I'm waiting on my house.  We thought we'd be moved in and partially settled at this point in the month but we're still waiting.  Underwriting was a bear to deal with (if you're in underwriting, I'm sorry) and then escrow.  I will say that my husband and I have dropped some serious 4 letter words in the past few weeks.  Every time they ask us for something new or have a question on something so dang obvious, it make me so mad I could spit nails.

The day after.  I scheduled that week off a long time ago but it was to relax.  Now I'll be moving.  The sad part is, we were given the green light about 6 times by underwriting (grrrrr) and we started packing.  I figured the first and easiest place would by my craft room.  First packed, first unpacked, right?  Wink Wink.

No.  Its all still packed.  That washi tape I need for that last minute project for school?  Packed.  My mist?  Packed.  December Daily materials?  Packed.  Grrrrrr.

I actually unpacked two boxes last weekend because I couldn't stand it anymore.  I actually unpacked before the move.  With all the stress I haven't felt much like crafting but the bug hit and I had to do something.

I threw together this simple tag.  Our elf has been quite active this month and I've got the pictures ready to go.  Tonight he brought a tree.  A small tree.  I wasn't up to anything more and I really don't have the room since the house is full of boxes!  I contemplated building a box tree.  You know, stacked boxes in the shape of a tree.  Yeah.  I'm sad.  I was going to put a string of lights around it too.  

Features a stamp from the Kelly Purkey set from SSS and flair from a {flair} for buttons.  There are a ton of new sets in the shop to chose from.  I've got a few sets ready for the DD book when it goes together.

December Daily Part 1

I split this up into multiple posts.  I didn't want to overwhelm you and its not finished yet.  I'm still adding in the last couple of days and the last bit of embellishments and journaling.  I start my DD in November when our elf arrives.  Its not really a true December Daily but more of an 'adventures of Ziggy the Elf'.

I started this back in December and then didn't touch it for the rest of the month.

The cover.  I used a Simple Stories Sn@p album in teal.  The felt snowflake is from Target.  The mini veneer letters are from the Studio Calico DD kit.  2012 flair is from a {flair} for buttons and the twine is from the Stringery Shop.  In fact any string/ribbon and any flair buttons you see are from these shops.

I love the divided pages.  I can add in as many or as little photos as I want for the day.  Ziggy arrived the morning after Thanksgiving bringing a Thomas the Train Christmas set for under the tree.  We also began decorating the house.

 This year N wanted to help hang the lights.  With careful supervision and someone holding the ladder and his legs, he got to hang the lights outside.   Ziggy brought two new ornaments for the tree too!

 Someone got a little excited to see the new ornaments and he may have touched the elf in order to get to said ornaments.  This causes your elf to lose his 'magic'.  So Ziggy was down for the count the next day.  Tag is from Chic Tags and the word 'elf' is cut from American Crafts POW glitter paper and my Silhouette.

 And then we have the *NEW* flair from the a {flair} for buttons shop.  The Elf of the Shelf flair.

 Most papers and embellishments are from the Studio Calico DD kit or the 25 Days class.  I have a TON left over from this kit and will be listing it for sale soon.  *See below*

 Stamps are from Elle's Studio.  Journaling tag is from the Studio Calico printables for the DD kit.

I love the printables from this kit so much that I printed out 3 copies of them!  All number tags are from Chic Tags.

Thats enough for now.  I'm so over the holidays at this point that I can barely look at this album anymore let alone finish it up.

I diverted my energy to cleaning my room out.  I have WAY too much stuff and I realized that I will never, ever be able to use it all.  I've put myself on a bit of a spending freeze for the first part of 2013 - don't worry, I'll never be able to stick to it.  I've been busy pinning my favorite new products and making my usual shopping list.  I will be more selective when shopping though.

Want a piece of the pie?  I've got all of my paper and embellishments up for sale HERE.  If you want them, the prices are all listed.  Paypal and contact email is BMW1367(at)gmail(dot) com.  Let me know what box you want and it will ship out as soon as payment is made.  Most boxes are $32.  Thats $20 for the product and $12 for the flat rate shipping.  I ship out USPS Priority.  Prices are all US.  If you are international its still $20 for the box but shipping will be higher.  I've got stamp sets and other things for sale as well.  I will be listing more items in January but I ran out of time to clean.  These boxes are full of products.  Paper, stickers, brads.... whatever you see in the photo and more!  Some boxes have over $100 in product in them.

Holiday Party

Since I'm room mom this year, I am in charge of the class parties.

I decided on a reindeer party this year.  With N's recent obsession with reindeer it was only appropriate.

I searched Pinterest of course and came up with some really simple ideas.

First, the Pin the Nose on Rudolph game.

I saw a very simple one on Pinterest and decided to make it better.  I tried the Silhouette store first but they were having issues (LOTS of issues) so I turned to Kerri Bradford.  She had a great set for $10.

I loaded into the Silhouette software and did the trace and cut thing to get this.  That lovely woodgrain is from the Studio Calico holiday line.  I love it so much I bought 12 sheets of it.  After cutting it out, I took the necessary pieces for the game and adhered them to a white piece of paper.  Then I took that to work, scanned it in high res and printed it out at 300%.  Rudolphs head was now 24 inches long.  I love working where I do because I have so many great resources available.

 After cutting him out, he looks like this.  I used the fabulous chevron ribbon from the store and a jingle bell we found in our decorations.  I glued the magnetic strips to the back of his 'beak' area.

 I found these large pom pom's at Michaels and adhered magnetic strips to the back.  These will now 'stick' to the beak area.

 You can see the before and after size.

I found a 18x28 foam core board at work and covered it with the wrapping paper.  Glued Rudolph to that and the game was ready.  I was so busy setting up today that I forgot to get a picture of the finished product WITH the noses.  Trust me, it looked awesome. 

 As for the rest of the party, it was a hit!  Reindeer everything.  Plates, cups, water bottles, sandwiches......

 See?  CUTE!

 I even found these blinking noses at Michaels on clearance.  Each kid got one.

 And one for the school director.  She said I was the only parent she would do this for.  :0

 One of the other moms makes natural cookies.  She has recipes for gluten free and sugar free cookies.  She also makes her own 'sugar' sprinkles.  She grinds up dried fruit really fine.  The kids think its sugar sprinkles but its really ground up strawberries, blueberries, mango etc.  We don't feel as guilty letting the kids go to town on something like this and adding a few m&m's when the rest of it isn't so bad.  Plus the kids love decorating their own cookies.  She made girl cookies for the girls and boy cookies for the boys.

 I just love this face!!!

Hope you get some ideas out of this for your next party!

Satisfying

That is how that little blogging break felt.  I love sharing and documenting here but I needed the break. I needed to know that there was one less thing that needed my attention for just a bit.  I needed to enjoy December before it passed me by.

And I did.  I enjoyed planning for the holidays and spending time with the men in my life.  My camera card is almost FULL with the pictures I've taken this month.  Thats awesome but I have a lot of sorting to do.

There has been minimal crafting but thats about to change.  I've made a resolution for 2013 already.  I realize now that I do not and will not have the time or energy to scrapbook as much as I have in the past.  I started to feel the pressure to use everything I bought and then it ends up sitting.  I have so much stuff.  Its ridiculous how much I have and that prompted a small purge of the room.  Mostly paper and a few embellishments.  I'll be listing flat rate boxes again for anyone interested.  I will also be participating in Project Life again this year.  I did 19 weeks last year before I bowed out gracefully because it was too much work.

Not this year.  I'm renewed and I have a new plan.  I'm also not going to try and 'get caught up' with older pictures.  I've got baby pictures of N that I feel I will never get around to scrapping.  I told my husband the only thing I wanted for Christmas was:

They were under the tree for me this Christmas and I felt a HUGE weight lifted off my shoulders.  Photos of  my son make up 80% of the photos I've taken since 2007.  I added in some of the WRMK albums from Michaels to document.  I'm not worried about getting this done as I've been good about keeping the photos in folders by year, month and event.  Most of them have been printed out so now its just a matter of adding them to the divided pages.  Its one of those projects that I can take anywhere and work on.  No packing up my entire room to work on something.

It also seems like I'll be spending more time at the rink in 2013 and this will be perfect for those days.  Give me something to do other than be 'that' Hockey Mom.  ;)

My other resolution for 2013 is to document more here.  

I've got plans for posts through New Years so check back.  I've got a lot more to share!

A few more elf

shenanigans.

We've been trying to enjoy the little family time we have together these days.  The other night we went out looking at Christmas lights.  There is a local house that goes all out.  The outside is completely covered in lights and the inside is a maze of tiny villages.

 This house has the lights timed to a radio station.  Its pretty cool.

 Inside the big house with villages.

 Their upside down tree.

 The Disneyland village.

 All of the rippled stuff is styrofoam.  She carves it  to look like snow and then sprays it with glitter.  It looks really cool in person.

 The Whoville/Grinch village.

 Of course, he was fascinated by the train in this village.

A parting shot of the Grinch.

 Junior tried out for the Junior Kings last week.  He's the tiny guy in the white jersey.  He did really well and will be part of the program starting in January.  VERY excited about this.

 Rascal's holiday attire.

 Checking to see if he's right or left handed.  Daddy wants to get him some golf clubs for Christmas.

He rode his bike in the local holiday parade with the school.  He was pretty excited to decorate his bike and ride it through town.

Not much crafting going on this month.  Between work and the holidays, I've lost all desire to touch anything in my craft room.  I am keeping up with picture printing for the December Daily.  I've got a few days finished that I need to share.