Winter Wreath

Brrrrr. Although I love living in an area of the country that has four distinct seasons, in reality, we have winter for 6 months here. And it can be a loooooooooong six months. *sigh*

However the trade off is beauty. It's spectacular really.

Photo source

Photo source

My very simple card today was created while perusing Pinterest. I was looking for crafty ideas to make with all the twigs and branches I collected from my property during our Fall clean-up. And then I saw this:

Photo source

So when this week's Product Spotlight was the Winter Wreath, I knew just what I wanted to do!

Supplies used: 

Winter Wreath

Garden Accents Set

Elegant Floral Set

Christmas Greetings set

White e.p.

I stamped and embossed the Winter Wreath twice in white just off the edge of my card panel. Then I carefully cut out the center and stamped my elements and sentiment "inside" on the BG panel. All that was left was to add a rhinestone and adhere the entire thing to a card base. Easy peasy.

I hope you'll take advantage of the sale price on this must have stamp. It's so incredibly versatile!

I used it for a Thanksgiving card as well about a month ago (never posted).

Supplies: Winter Wreath, Autumn Stamp set, Classic Leaves set, Houndstooth BG, Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanks for stopping by, check out what the rest of the DT did here.

XOXO,

Razzle Dazzle Blog Hop

Hello there:)

I'm posting two cards today that I created for the Razzle Dazzle Blog Hop with Denami!

If you are interested in following along and potentially winning one of TWO $20 gift certificates to the store, then start at the beginning (here), and leave a comment at each stop along the way:)

Since I'm the second stop, right after the amazingly talented, and incredibly sweet Paulina, you probably aren't lost yet *grin*. But I know she opened the hop with jaw-dropping perfection. That girl can CREATE!

As you can see, I created two cards, basically the same LO, only using different colors and supplies for the "razzle dazzle" part. Both used white embossed pine trees and brown embossed winter trees. 

I love the tree stamps from Denami. Love. So I thought adding some glittery snow and/or sparkle decorations would make these trees shine!

Supplies used:

Large Pine

Medium Pine

Large Winter Tree

Star Burst

Small Classic Christmas

Christmas Greetings Set

White Embossing powder

Gold Embossing powder

Extra Fine Glitter

Magenta Glitter

Gold Glitter

White Fun Fluff (flocking)

Quickie Glue Pen (LIFESAVER FOR ADDING GLITTER!)

and

Marshmallow Sequins

 Can you see how those gorgeous sequins pick up the colors and lights around them? Amazing, if I do say so myself. And the magenta glitter garland and "snow" just make me so happy:) Who doesn't like a little glitz now and then? :) White christmas trees are happy, even if cutting them out takes a while.

Here you can see just how good that flock looks. Especially when combined with touches of that extra fine silvery/white glitter! And the gold glitter made that Star Burst stamp come to life!

I hope you were inspired by visiting me today. Although living in the snow belt of NY state can leave much to be desired, seeing all that beautiful, glittery snow on the evergreen trees, and weighing down the branches of the leafless winter trees makes me thankful for all the seasons I get to experience here.

The next stop in this hop is LYNE! Go see what inspiration she has for you, and be sure to leave a comment before you go to increase your chances of winning a $20 gift certificate!

Thanks for hopping by,

XOXO

Pin-spired Christmas

Hi there! I'm popping in today to share a Christmas card I created using a photo from Pinterest for inspiration. There are so many amazing images to peruse that I sometimes get caught up and lose track of time. It's easier just to be given an image and told to create! *smile*

Isn't this one fabulous? I love the colors and textures and angles and just everything!

A few other DT members created cards based on this photo as well, check them out on the Denami blog.

Stamps used: 

Contempo Christmas

Winter Pine set (cling)

Other supplies:

Metallic Bronze sequins

Gold and red sequins 

Thanks for stopping by,

XOXO

Thanksgiving Recap

I hope all of my online pals who celebrated Thanksgiving had a nice holiday with family and friends.

 Since I was a small child, Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. Getting out the good china, polishing all the heirloom silver, laying out the lace tablecloth and my grandmother's linen napkins, using  mini salt cellars, napkin rings, and placecards, and all the family that would arrive from many states away, just made me so happy. Even though I was relegated to the "kids" table until I was 12, I loved listening to the adults talking and laughing while sitting around my mother's dining room table with all four extra leaves put in to accommodate everyone.

I always host Thanksgiving at my house now and I spend days cooking up a storm!

Not too many family members trek out to the boonies to celebrate at my house, but my mother always comes and usually a few other guests as well. 

Thanksgiving morning always begins with this cake for breakfast. It is a staple and I have been making it on Thanksgiving morning since 1999. Some years I even make it vegan. Simple and delicious.

Thanksgiving Morning Breakfast Cake

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

8 oz. sour cream

1 tsp. almond extract

2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt (1/4 tsp if using salted butter)

1 can of whole berry cranberry sauce (or 1 1/2 cups homemade)

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a bundt pan very well, being sure to get into all the nooks and crannies.

2. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy, then add eggs, sour cream, and almond extract.

3. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and mix into wet batter until fully incorporated.

4. Dollop half of batter into bundt pan, swirl in half of the cranberry sauce, cover with rest of batter and top off with rest of cranberry sauce, swirling it in. 

5. Bake 1 hour.

Invert cake onto plate, let cool 10 minutes. Drizzle with icing.

Icing

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. almond extract

1 T. lemon juice

hot water to make icing 

This is a photo of our table this year. The adults drink wine, but the kids get "kid's wine" which is actually sparkling grape juice:) 

Here's my requisite full plate photo! *chuckle* 

People always ask what on earth vegetarians eat on Thanksgiving...well, here it is!

Mashed potatoes and vegetarian gravy, hickory smoked sliced Tofurky, sweet potato biscuits, green beans with almonds, a yummy dish that my boyfriend contributed (roasted red potatoes, artichoke hearts, and kalamata olives with lemon), traditional celery & onion stuffing, buttered rutabaga, creamed pearled onions, honey/balsamic roasted brussel's sprouts, burgundy mushrooms, and homemade cranberry sauce! 

And just like the adults did when I was small, we sit around the table talking and eating and sharing stories until evening when we dig into dessert:)

I am very thankful for my family and friends, our good health, and all that we have.

Card above uses: Cornucopia, Houndstooth background, Autumn Stamp Set, Solid Leaves, Happy Thanksgiving, and Wire Fence embossing folder. 

If you want to get a head start on your Christmas stamp shopping, check out the ONE DAY sale happening at Denami today. 

Thanks for stopping by,

XOXO

Sequined Christmas Banner

       

Hi there!

Today I am thrilled to be posting a project for Pretty Pink Posh!

Paulina contacted me a while ago to ask if I would participate in a mini blog hop to announce the opening of her sweet little shop carrying all sorts of fabulous embellishments, and I was honored.

You would not believe the goodies inside package she sent me! I squealed in delight when I opened it:) But lets get to the project I created...

Here are the supplies I chose to start with:

I knew I wanted to create a Christmas Banner to hang on my china cabinet in my dining room. I have a banner for all other occasions but nothing for the Christmas holiday. 

I began by gluing the Raspberry Sequins into letter shapes on the canvas banner pieces to spell out "Be Merry." 

Then I created mini sequin christmas trees on two burlap banner pieces using the Woodlands sequin mix, and the Metallic Bronze sequins for the trunk, and finished them off with a few red sequins from the Classic Christmas mix as decorations. 

Then I created a snowflake for the middle separating banner piece with a pearl pen and added the Silver Confetti to highlight.

I dangled a large Silver Bell from each of the letter banners, and strung them all together with some hemp cord. 

I'm so pleased with this banner and it was easy and simple to make! All those gorgeous sequins glitter so nicely in the right lighting. (It's been a cold, dreary, wintery week here and we have nearly 2 feet of snow and single digit temps so lighting in my dining room is not ideal...)

Now for the Blog Hop details:

Pretty Pink Posh Blog

Christy Reuling

Dana Seymour <--- You are here

Leigh Penner

Nicole Gavaldon

Laurie Willison

Lisa Elton

Amy Tsuruta

Heather Pulvirenti

Stacey Schafer

Laura Sterckx

There will be a Prize Pack from Pretty Pink Posh for TWO lucky winners drawn from all the comments before December 3rd. Paulina will announce the two winners on Thursday December 5th. 
Plus, as a special you can get free shipping with your order of at least $35 until December 5! Use the special code below!

Thanks for stopping by, and good luck!

XOXO 

Leafy squares

Hello! Are you interested in winning a stamp set? 

The girls on the Denami DT are hosting a mini hop today and there will be a winner drawn from all the comments to win this:

Of course, if you can't wait, it IS on sale all this week too:)

I really like this Leafy Square set of vine borders/frames. It's so versatile. I used the small one above along with Happy Birthday, Polka Dot Background, and Large Dot Swirls. 

Here is the hop order:

DeNami blog 

Lisa Petrella 

Deb Wabbe 

Wendy Elliot 

Emily Keaton 

Lisa Elton 

Pattie Goldman 

Dana Seymour  <====you are here

Tammy Hobbs

Thanks for stopping by and good luck!

XOXO

Season's Greetings

I'm swamped this weekend working for the Christmas Bazaar Fundraiser at my youngest son's school, but I wanted to share this simple holiday card I whipped up using some great Christmas stamps from Casual Fridays Stamps.

I stamped the present image on three pieces of PP, cut them out, and colored the bows with white gel pen. The sentiment was stamped in two colors of ink on kraft, and the pattern along the bottom of the main panel was added to bring in the kraft color. Simple, right?

This would be cute as a birthday card in different colors (and changing the sentiment of course!). 

Stamps used: 

Snowflake Greetings

Merry Kiss-mas

Zigs & Zags

Thanks for stopping by,

XOXO

Thanksgiving placecards

Hello! I wanted to pop in and share these simple placecards I created for today's Spotlight Post at Denami. This small in stature, but large on impact Turkey stamp is super cute for lots of holiday projects. 

As a vegetarian family, we choose to "Adopt a Turkey" each year instead of eating one:) I know that is not a popular sentiment because folks seem to base entire holidays around eating them this time of year, but it works for us! We even get photos of our turkey and get to read about his/her life at Farm Sanctuary.

These simple placecards will remind us of just how thankful we are as we sit down together to enjoy a cruelty free meal with loved ones.

The design team really outdid themselves with this spotlight, so be sure to check out what they created on the Denami blog as well!

Thanks for stopping by,

XOXO

Out Loud

ETA:  I apparently mistakenly scheduled this post for DECEMBER 13...*facepalm*

Good morning (or afternoon or evening)!

I'm back with a sneak peek of the last set November being released tomorrow at Casual Fridays Stamps! 

ETA: all three new sets are available NOW in the store!!

Today's peeks are focused on one AWESOME set designed by Michele called Out Loud.

It's full of text! Cursive, playful, classic, and modern text all abound in this one great set.

Not only did I use Out Loud here, but I also couldn't resist playing with the die from Funky Square Tags as well. Layered together with a bit of ink the two diecuts look like a modern flower. 

Go see what the other girls have created...I'm so honored to be working with such a talented group. Honestly, those girls blow me away with their creativity each month.

Thanks for stopping by,

XOXO

Wallflowers

I'm back with another sneak peek! This time it's a fun set called Wallflower that will be released on November 14 by Casual Friday Stamps.

Wallflower has an image that matches a previously released Fri-Die... The Four Petal Set! So many options, right?!

Plus it has a beautiful strip stamp that I used for my background here. 

Black on (almost) black is so pretty. In this case, black e.p. on dark grey looks elegant and classy. Don't you think?

And the sentiments are super as well. The font is playful, yet timeless.

Go check out what the rest of the design team did at the blog. And don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win!

Thanks for stopping by,

XOXO

Butterbows

Hi there! 

Today begins the sneak peek of three new sets that Casual Friday Stamps is releasing on November 14th!

The set for today is called Butterbows, and it's fantastic. 

If you want to see what the other DT members made using Butterbows, AND see the full set in all it's glory, check out the Casual Friday Stamps blog!

If you leave a comment you might just win something as well...*grin*

I've never been a butterfly fan, but this rainbow made from them just tickles my fancy:)

I think Michele got the idea for this set from a Maroon 5 song. Isn't she the greatest?! I love her to pieces!!!

Hope you like what you see,

XOXO

Knitting with Twine

Welcome to the November Denami Blog Hop! 

This month it's all about the twine!

If you'd like a chance to win one of two $20 gift certificates to Denami, then scroll through the hop from the beginning and leave a comment at each blog:)

If you came from Kerri's blog you are on the right track. 

For a full list of participants see the Denami blog.

I adore twine. Adore it.

I have some in every variegated color that is made, and most of the solid colors as well. 

But I wanted to step outside the realm of typical twine use on a card...what to do...hmmmm.

*lightbulb*

I'll knit with it! 

Let me be honest when I say I don't recommend attempting to knit using tiny toothpicks. It was fun but very tedious:) 

(I thought I was so clever until I googled "knitting with twine" and saw several samples...so much for an original thought. Pshaw. Oh well *shrug*)

Denami supplies used:

Magenta twine

Aquamarine twine

Tangerine twine

Orchid twine

Circle Interlock Embossing Folder

Heartfelt Greetings set

Your next stop is Stacy! 

Be sure to leave a comment if you'd like a chance to win a gift certificate and good luck!

Oh, my dear fellow fox-lover and paper crafting diva extraordinaire isn't well and had to drop out of the hop this month. If you get a chance, pop by Amy Smidebush's blog and send her get well wishes:)

Thanks for stopping by,

XOXO