Cyber Monday Sales and other fun links

Good morning, happy Monday and happy last day of November!  I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, we visited my Dad in Bodega Bay, CA for a relaxing time.  My Dad's place has some amazing views of the ocean, it is quiet and the perfect place to finish stamping projects. 

Here are a few pictures of our getaway this last week:

From November 29 2009

That is my 81 year young Dad, he is amazing! 

From November 29 2009

My Dad's wife just had the fireplace redone, and I love how the project came out.

From November 29 2009

One picture of the view from his window, to the right is Bodega Bay, directly in front is the Pacific Ocean. 

From November 29 2009

And I finally finished my xmas cards!  Last year we didn't send out any cards, so this year I made sure to get them done and all ready early, just packed up what I needed and took it with us to my Dad's.  Today I need to seal the envelopes and put stamps on the cards and out they go!  I think this is the first time I have ever gotten my cards done before December 1st : )

And here is a picture of a Tilda card I made for two challenges, the home page challenge of the Magnolia Yahoo group and the Magnolia Blog challenge:

From November 15 2009

Now, how about some Cyber Monday sale links (with a few other things thrown in as well)?  Today is the online version of "Black Friday," so get ready to find some great deals, but be mindful that some of these sales are only for a short time:

Wild Ivory Memories:  Use the code "cyber30" for 30 percent off of your entire order.

My Favorite Things: Great deals in their Bubble Bin, don't wait though because once the stamps are gone they are gone forever.

Stop and Scrap: Use the code "Turkey09" for 20 percent off of your order (only until today).

Scraplovers:  Check out these great deals for one day only, Monday November 30th.


Jacksonbelle Embellishements:  Entire store is 25 percent off, today is the last day.

Stampers Dream Blog:  All sorts of great deals here, sale ends on November 30th.

Kitchen Sink Stamps:  More deals, but hurry! And don't forget to use the promo code LISA15KSS" to get 15 percent off!

Sweet Pea Stamps:  Great deals, including 50 percent off of many stamps, and some freebies if you order certain amounts.  

Joann:  Great Cyber Monday deals. 

Ellen Hutson:  Many deals on some wonderful supplies.  

JustRiteStampes: 20 percent off the entire store.  

And here are a few links you might enjoy that are not "Cyber Monday" related:


Ink Stains: The link takes you through to sketches, make sure to visit the home page of the blog as well, some great sketches and ideas here. 

Time for Crafting:  Link takes you to a treasure trove of tips and techniques, a great site to bookmark. 

Stamp Out Online: Great site for personalized stamps, and their prices are reasonable as well.  Good gift for any crafters on your list : ) 

Pretty Pressings:  What an amazing collection of paper crafts!  You are going to love all the projects you see here, one very talented lady. 

Sunflowers and Dragonflies:  A great collection of links to projects that use Pearl  Ex, and what better time then Christmas to use all the shimmer and gleam you get with Pearl Ex?

That is it for today everyone!  Time for me to get going to work, hope you liked these links and please don't forget that I love to read your comments, suggestions and ideas for more links in the future.


Have a great day.

Being thankful for so very much

As we approach the holiday season I wanted to say thank you to all of you who have stuck with me during my somewhat long and erratic "vacations."  The reason this blog is here is because of you, my wonderful friends who love stamping as much as I do : )  Your comments and emails give me the energy to keep on posting and sharing the great online world of rubber stamping.

I am also very grateful for my family who has supported my rubber stamping addiction with out hardly a complaint.  My husband, god love him, encourages my addiction, and I am ever grateful that he puts up with my stamping area in the corner of our family room. 

Even when life gets tough our friends and family are there beside us, and for that I cannot ever say enough "thank you" for all that I have been blessed with.

I started my Christmas cards (yes, I know, late, but hopefully they will be in the mail by the end of this week), will post a picture next week after they go "postal."  This year I decided to do something a bit simple, and I think the card came out very nice, but you can judge for yourself next week. 

How about some links today? 

Cuttlebug circular embossing:  Great idea, easy and just perfect for those Christmas cards you have yet to make.

Daily Deals Links:  Here is a thread from SCS that lists some sites that offer daily deals on crafting supplies, remember that these deals are usually good for no more then a day, you will have to check them daily to see what new and exciting item is being offered.  I checked out a few of these and found some great one day deals!

Glittered Pen:  WOW!  I LOVED this idea, so easy and perfect for a stocking stuffer/small gift to give this holiday season.

Spool Cap Goodie Holder:  Another great idea for the holidays.  This one is easy and makes anything you put inside look wonderful.

"Grounding" your stamped images:  A very nice tutorial on how you can make sure your image is "grounded" instead of floating on your project.  I love the use of a mask to help with the grounding.

Extreme Cards and Papercrafting:  Yes, you read right, extreme!  This is a great blog with all sorts of templates and ideas to give your project a little bit extra.  I especially liked this tealight (battery only please) holder, fantastic idea for Christmas.

Don't Eat the Paste:  You are not going to believe how many box templates there are on this site!  Great resource for your holiday giving.

Coloring Today:  This blog, "Running with Scissors" has an amazing collection of techniques you can use to color your stamped images.  The link will take you to all of the tutorials for coloring, make sure you visit the main blog site as well for additional ideas and great cards.

Ok, that is all for today, I have to get ready for work and then do my Tday shopping after work, tomorrow is prepare the food day, and Wednesday is travel to Dad's day : )

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I would love it if you posted a comment on the things you are thankful for this year. 

Thank you again for being such loyal and wonderful friends and fellow stampers.

Product review, a video, glitter technique and other great links

Good morning and happy Monday!  I hope your weekend was good to you, we went to go see the movie "2012," which we loved (yes, I admit to loving disaster movies.)  We also did a bit of yard work, laundry and house straightening (aren't we an exciting family?)

And California is finally seeing some fall weather!  This morning we have a frost warning, but our day is expected to reach almost 70.  Rain?  Other then the storm we had some weeks ago we haven't had much fall on us, however this week the weather gods are saying that rain may be in our future (lets hope so because we do need the rain here in sunny but dry CA).

Ok, enough of my ramblings, how about some fun links for today?

New Martha Stewart Scoring Board: This weekend I went to Michaels and saw that Martha Stewart has a new product, a scoring board!  I was tempted to purchase the tool, but given that I already have a Scor-pal and limited space the new tool did not make it into my basket.  The new board by Stewart has grooves every 1/8th of an inch, as well as a tool to help you make your own envelopes!  The price is $19.00, so with a 40 percent off coupon you could "score" one of these tools for about $12 or so. The link above gives you some great pictures as well as a good comparison of the Scor-pal and Martha Steward Score Board.  I am still tempted to try out the Martha Steward Scoring Board and then decide on which tool to keep in my limited space.

Great way to use glitter with your images:  I loved this idea!  The glitter stays put, and you get all the sparkle that you want.  This idea will work well with any of your Christmas images, I am thinking of shinny snowmen, sparkly snowflakes and some green glittered trees : )

AC Bailey Design:  I found this company online and was intrigued by their products, and that one can sign up to be a demo with them.  Has anyone signed up with this company?  Leave a comment if you have some first had experience with them.  Thought you might all like to see what business opportunities there are out there for us hard core stampers.

Stampin Up goes UNMOUNTED!:  Yes, you heard that right, Stampin up is FINALLY going to offer the choice of cling mounted stamps or wood mounted.  I do like Stampin Up stamps, but have refused to purchase any of their stamps because I have to deal with the wood (almost all of my stamps are unmounted).  I think that Stampin Up has hit the jackpot, especially as the word on the street is that their unmounted prices will be about 25 percent less then the wood mounts.  Expected time of arrival:  January.

Stampendous Blog:  This is a neat blog with a huge amount of information, techniques, tutorials and give aways. 

Digital Pencil:  This site has some great digital images, the link takes you to the seasonal images but make sure to check out all of the offerings, some wonderful designs here. 

Inspiration Mosaic Stamp Set:  I loved this set and can't stop thinking about all the possibilities!  You can use this stamp set for almost any occasion, and it lends itself to layering your images as well.

Crafting the Web:  What a fantastic blog!  I love the designs and the very easy to follow directions for all of her wonderful cards and coloring, a must visit blog.  I spent an hour on this blog in awe of the amazing techniques.

Card Keeper:  I loved this video, what a great idea and it would make a nice gift for someone this holiday season (give them the card keeper filled with all sorts of cards for various holidays, Valentines Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Birthdays and so on.)



Have a wonderful week, see you next Monday!

What happens in November? Christmas projects!

Happy Monday!  Last week we entered into that time of year when Christmas projects start to become more pressing, bringing some of us (those who have not been making projects since July) into what is known as the "panic."  You know what I mean, all year you have thought about what wonderful things you can do for Christmas, and while thinking about what you were going to make for the holidays the hours, days and months somehow slipped by.

I am here today to tell you not to fear!  Given that we are still more then a month away from Christmas, there is still plenty of time to think, plan and actually complete any number of Christmas projects, from simple to complex. 

So, sit back, grab a cup of coffee or tea and surf the web with me for some great ideas on projects that will enhance your holiday, from cards to gifts, you are sure to find a few things that will strike your fancy and get you moving.

Ready?  Here we go:

Tea light holder:  This is so easy!  And it would make a cute gift or a way to decorate your home for the holidays.  Get your kids into the act with this easy project, many hands make light work (like the play on words?)  Don't forget that you could also use other shapes as the base, try a snowflake, a tree or other holiday related shape.

Christmas Bow/Decoration:  I loved this idea, and  imagine that if you "smash" the bauble you get a really neat bow/decoration to use all sorts of ways.  You could even make a number of these and attach them to a form for a wreath and have a very unique and lovely wreath to give as a gift or use in your own home.

Snowman Snowflake:  Quick and easy, and a very interesting idea, a snowflake that is made out of snowmen!  Make sure to click on the template if you do not want to draw your own snowman.

Gift bag and box templates: Some very good templates here for interesting boxes (star, cone and a cube), as well as a good template for a pre-printed gift bag.

Hot coco and gift holder:  Tutorial and template, and make sure to sign up for the 12 weeks of Christmas newsletter!  A new project each week, right now edition six is going out.

Pre-printed bag topper:  This is so cute and easy, just print it out and staple it onto a bag of goodies.

Snowman sayings:  A huge list of all sorts of cute snowman sayings to put on your cards or gift tags. 

Christmas craft templates:  Lots and lots of great templates that you can use for any number of holiday related items. Here are pages two, three, and four.

Amazing list of Christmas projects:  Some of these are paper related, many are not, but there are TONS of ideas and directions at this link.

Great paper ornament:  While the directions call for using an old magazine, I am sure you could also use something like old Christmas gift wrap or even create your own paper.  This ornament looks great, but might take a bit of time to prepare.

And of course here are some links to places you might already have, but I thought it would be good to list them anyway:

Split Coast Stampers:  Great list of tutorials for holiday projects.

Martha Stewart:   Link is to her Christmas Paper Crafts section, lots and lots of great ideas here (as one would expect from Martha Stewart : )

And of course a video, loved this snowflake!  And it seems to be fairly easy to put together, imagine adding a bit of glitter to your paper to get an even neater effect:


That is all for this week, I might get a chance to post again on Thursday with some fun links to Christmas rubber stamps (can we ever have enough Christmas stamps?)

Until the next time, have a great week and don't forget to spend some time stamping.

A "tail" of a story today, and some fun links.

Good morning and happy Monday to everyone.  I hope you all remembered to turn the clock back on Sunday, if not then you might want to change your clocks today.  Our weekend was busy, we cleaned the gutters (even though there is no rain in the near future), redid some caulking in one of the bathrooms (the other one is scheduled for this week) and went to visit my Mom and her new "addition."

Last Friday my brother (who lives in San Francisco) was on his way to visit my Mom (who also lives in San Francisco) when a little dog started following him as he went to his car.  My brother finally picked up the tiny package and went up and down the street asking people if they had lost a dog, finding no takers he then brought the dog to my Mom's house where the little thing has been ever since.

The little addition has been named Gigi, and it is all of 2 pounds 9 ounces.  The vet said that Gigi was about a year and half old, had no chip, was malnourished, but in otherwise good health.  We went up to visit my Mom and her new friend on Saturday and fell in love with Gigi (though she needs to learn to stop nipping). 

Here are some pictures:

From October 31 2009

Here my husband put his hand against Gigi so you can get an idea of how small she is:
 

From October 31 2009

And one more:

From October 31 2009

We bought Gigi some toys, treats and a small harness for my Mom to use when walking her.  My Uncle's wife bought Gigi two beds, more toys, a sweater, coat and other goodies as well.  Everyone who sees Gigi falls in love with her, one of my Mom's friends is making some special food for Gigi and bringing it over.

Hopefully Gigi will fatten up a bit, and with some minor training she will be a great companion for my Mom. 

Now, onto some links : )

Designer Blogs:  CardMaker digital magazine has put together a list of some great blogs by card designers.  Check out the list and get ready to enjoy some amazing talent.

Glitter Fun:  I love this site (did I tell you that I have a glitter addiction?).  All sorts of great ideas for glitter, projects, art and of course some glitter to buy if you want.  Make sure to check out their techniques page as well as all the various types of glitter they have for sale.

Great price on square envelopes:  I have an enveloper but have decided that it is too expensive to make my own 6 x 6 envelopes.  This site has some of the best prices I have seen for square envelopes, and they also have a great variety.  More and more I am making square cards, either 6 x 6 or 5.5 x 5.5, and need to put in an order for these great envelopes.  Some of the envelopes are only 7.16 for 50 (which is an amazing price),

More good prices on square envelopes:  This site also has some good prices, and for a nominal charge you can order samples of their products.

Copic storage:  I loved this idea, if I had the room this is how I would store my copics.  Check out how easy it is to find the color that you need and how neat this system is.

How to make a button flower:  This is so simple and it makes a great embellishment for your card.  I also love how the person made pins out of these, really cute idea.

Color Infusion Threads:  I use thread as well as ribbon on my cards, the link gives you some great ideas on how to use these threads with your paper projects. 

Amazing fold-em templates and videos:  I love the look of the fold-ems, what a great addition to a card or scrapbook page.  The videos take you through the cutting process, and while it looks a bit time consuming the results are well worth the time.

And since we are quickly approaching the holidays, here is a video on how to color a Santa face using copics, some really good coloring here and she takes you from start to finish:



Have a wonderful week everyone!  Next week I will post some of the Tilda cards I have been making (and yes, they all have glitter somewhere ; )