break from christmas for a day...

Good Saturday morning everyone! How wonderful to be into the weekend, huh? Ahhh...that is all I can say.

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending a 70th birthday luncheon for a good friend of mine. I love this woman and it was great to spend time with her and some of her other friends. For some reason I hadn't thought ahead to the fact that I actually needed a birthday gift for her...duh, for me! I was at the store this morning and bought her a little 3"x3" calendar for 2009 that has wonderful quotes for women for each day.

I got home with my fun calendar and realized I had nothing to put it in...so, SCS to the rescue! While I was at SCS I found Jenn Balcer's tutorial for an origami box (right HERE). I pulled out some Cosmo Cricket paper and whipped up a little box to put the calendar in and then also a little 3"x3" card that I put in its envelope and slipped under the ribbon on the bottom. The brown ribbon is the stitched felt from the Alpine Originals ribbon in SU!'s holiday mini (and it is wonderful!). I added some Prima flowers to the top and there you have it...a pretty little box for gift giving. The picture really does not do the box justice but I do think that my friend will enjoy it.

I started a blog just for my Tastefully Simple business and I thought I'd share it with you. I will still share specials and such with you here but for more information, recipes, and fun please feel free to take a look at (and bookmark or add to your reader) my blog called Tastefully Simple with Lorie (oh, so original, huh?). Feel free to become a follower of that blog as I think I may have to give away some Tastefully Simple samples very soon! Yummy!

Alright...go...have a super Saturday and I'll see you tomorrow for Page Plans day!

ric rac christmas tree

It's finally Friday...the weekend's here! (anyone singing with me?) Although the week went by pretty quickly I'm still so happy it is Friday! I don't have a whole heck of a lot planned this weekend so it should be relaxing. I do have two projects that I MUST get done but they should be fairly easy. Ha! Did I just say that out loud? 'Cuz you totally know that means it will be a big pain, huh?

So...what do you think of my ric rak tree card? I saw this idea on Martha Stewart's website and thought I'd try it. Although the background paper is a bit busy I still love the idea. Can you guess what the patterned paper is from? Yep, Basic Grey's Wassail. So is the enamel brad (although it looks black it is a deep green color with a snowflake in the middle). I got some pretty velour feeling ric rak awhile back and I used it here for the boughs. Of course the brad is for the tree topper.

Well, it isn't very glamorous but I like it and have the perfect recipient for it.

I hope that you have a SUPER Friday, I'll see you tomorrow, and don't forget to check out the PTI sets that I have for sale HERE! I have also set up a blog for my Tastefully Simple business. You can find that (and my first post also you may want to bookmark that site) HERE.

classic funky christmas?

Morning stampers! I can't believe it is Thursday already. Yesterday was such a busy day and I was so tired last night! Tired or not...I knew I had to post this card so you could see it.

While I had Gina K's Funky Christmas set out the other day I had to make another card. I thought I might use the carolers in a slightly different way though and see if I could make them a little more classic...Dicken's style. I think it worked.

I used more of Basic Grey's Wassail patterned paper along with Spellbinders Labels Two, Spellbinders Ribbon Tags Trio, Papertrey Ink's Holiday Wishes, Gina K's Funky Christmas, and some beautiful wine colored velvet ribbon to pull this card together.

I'm looking forward to sending this one out this Christmas season!

Have a super day everyone!

belli challenge

Good morning friends! I just wanted to type you a quick note to let you know a couple of things.

First, I didn't get my Belli Challenge done BUT I am going to try and get something done this afternoon and post it early this evening so please check back and also be sure to check out the other Belli Girls cards by clicking on their blogs in my sidebar. Edited...I did a cracked glass card...hope you like it! The cardinal is from CHF, paper from Wassail Basic Grey (again!), and the ink for the cardinal is Cranberry Adirondack.

Next, Did you know it is only 22 days until Christmas? Ack! I'm so far behind! Please know that if I don't post here and there it isn't 'cuz I don't love y'all it is because I'm busy making super fantastic gifts...or just catching up!

Finally, I have become a Tastefully Simple consultant in addition to everything else I do. I have sold TS before and I completely love their products. I will probably be adding announcements on sales and new products to my postings as well as having a link to my Tastefully Simple website in my sidebar. That website will allow you to order any of the yummy TS products at anytime and have it shipped directly to you. We can also hold an online party for you and your friends if you live far away and you can become a consultant through the website as well. Let me know if you have any questions about Tastefully Simple!

If you are like me and feeling the rush of Christmas you may like the animation I have for you today. Remember to hold the real meaning of Christmas in your heart and you will be just fine.

Have a super day everyone!

created by courtney challenge #17

Good morning stampers! I hope you had a super Monday! Although it didn't go the way I had thought it was going to it really turned out to be a wonderful day.

In case you can't tell this weeks Created By Courtney Challenge is Ornaments. Isn't this a fun challenge? I must say that I cheated just a teensy bit. I used the ornaments and paper from SU!'s Holiday Mini. The set is called On Board Trinkets Ornaments. It comes with over 40 On Board ornaments and the paper to decorate them. I took three of the On Board pieces, decorated them with complimentary paper and made the ornament you see to the right. The ornament, 'joy', and star are all separate but compliment each other so well. The ribbon is Riding Hood Red ribbon originals.

So...whatcha got when it comes to ornaments? There are so many different things you can do. Courtney made some super cute ornaments not to long ago. You must see them HERE! I truly hope you will take the time to visit all of the CBCC Chicks by clicking to their blogs in my sidebar. I have this feeling it is going to be an AMAZING day of artwork!

So...go...have fun looking and have a super day! Oh, and see HERE for PTI sets that I have for sale!

my cuppa joe

Good Monday morning friends! I hope your weekend was all you wanted and needed it to be!

I wanted to make a card for a friend and when I received this super cute My Cuppa' Joe set from Gina K...I knew it had to be with this set. I love all the coffee images and the sentiments are great too! Inside I put the sentiment "Friendship is like good coffee ~ rich warm and strong." Isn't that lovely? I used THIS sketch from i{heart}tostamp. I know the image is a bit small for this sketch but I just had to use it as the recipient and I both like our coffee!

All card stock on this card (except for the Gina K white) is from Basic Grey's Wassail holiday paper line. I'm actually really happy with how this came out and the picture doesn't really do this card justice. The colors are so rich and pretty that it makes the card nice without my having to try...yay!

Tomorrow is Created by Courtney Tuesday and while I haven't made my project for it yet...I'm excited to come up with something. I'm hoping I can be a little original at least. I hope you'll check back to see!

One last thing. I have some stamp sets that I'd like to let go of. All are Papertrey Ink. The list is below and if you are interested in anything just e-mail me and let me know! You can take a look at all of the sets HERE.

Borders & Corners Heart - Lightly Used - $20
Women of Life - Lightly Used - $20
Shapes by Design - Lightly Used - $20
Boxes, Bags and Tags - Lightly Used - $13
Women of Life Additions - Not Used - $3
Favor It Weddings - Not Used - $3

Today is DT Challenge Day over at the Sweet N Sassy Stamps blog. There are directions on how to make a cute Kleenex holder. Head on over and try one out! Have a super Monday everyone...see you tomorrow!

page plans week 33

Yep, it is that day again...Page Plans day! It sure did feel good to stamp this weekend. I'm not sure why I felt I needed a break but I'm glad I took a few days off.

Anyway, this sketch was another that was hard. Overall I like the card I came up with but the lower two squares were a little difficult to figure out what to do.

This card is made with the new Funky Christmas set from Gina K (yep...Courtney made me do it!). This little set has such cute images...you must check it out! Once again I've forgotten to keep the name of the manufacturer of the patterned paper (if you know please leave a comment). I've used Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, and some of Gina K's new Pure Luxury White card stock. Want to know something neat about the paper? I messed up on coloring my first reindeer so I flipped the paper over, stamped the image again, colored it up and you can't see the other image! Wow, that is fantastic! Okay, back to the card. The ornament is from PTI, colored with COPIC markers...yeah...you get the point. The size of this card is 4 1/4" x 4 1/4".

I hope that you will all try out this sketch and let me see! Have a super day everyone and I hope you get everything done that you wish too!