Reindeer and Little Girls

Have you ever heard a song on the radio and a memory comes flashing back? Well, that happened to me the other day. I've been listening to a local radio station that is playing all Christmas music 24/7. I know it's a little early but I LOVE Christmas music.

The song was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I hear that song by all different artists about 20 times a day. This particular version was by John Denver and the words go like this:

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer (reindeer)

Had a very shiny nose (like a light bulb)

And if you ever saw it (saw it)

You would even say it glows (like a glow worm)

All of the other reindeer (reindeer)

Used to laugh and call him names (like Pinochio)

They never let poor Rudolph (Rudolph)

Join in any reindeer games (like Monopoly)

Back in December 2004, my granddaughters, Courtney (then 9) and Megan (then 7) and I were decorating our Christmas cookies. Megan began singing that song. Well, I had never heard that version and I thought it was the cutest song. I kept telling them, "Sing it again." I quickly learned the extra words and we sang it together over and over. Each time we stopped we would giggle. It was such a special moment with my two granddaughters. Even with all the giggling and singing we still managed to decorate some cookies.

My sister, Teri, joined us and she sang with us and helped us decorate cookies. That's when we decided to take this picture of the three reindeer! It was such a fun day -- just being silly.


I hadn't thought about that song in years so when I heard it on the radio that wonderful, heart-warming memory came flooding back. I cranked up the volume on my car stereo and with a big grin on my face I sang along. It took me back for a moment to that day -- that day about reindeer and little girls!

2009 Create-a-Calendar Class

I have been trying to figure out what to do with Stampin' Up!'s Create-a-Calendar kit since I first saw it in the Holiday Mini Catalog. I'm a sucker for calendars. I usually try to create one each year. One year I made the SU 12x12 scrapbook calendar. It turned out cute but it was so labor-intensive! Another year I made a cute desk calendar using plastic CD cases -- much easier than the scrapbook calendar. It's just hard to come up with something different each year. So I was very excited when I saw that SU had made it easy for me by designing a kit. Unfortunately, I wasn't too excited about the way they were using it. I started searching the blogs that I follow (which is where I get a lot of my inspiration - thanks, ladies!) and found exactly what I wanted. Here is what I found on Jan Tink's blog. If you haven't heard of Jan Tink, you've got to check out her blog. She is my idol!

I changed the front a little to represent the four seasons and I stamped each month with seasonal images. What do you think?


I'll be holding a class for this 2009 Calendar at my house on December 13, 2008 from 9:30-11:00. The cost is $15 which includes the Create-a-Calendar kit. If you are interested, please contact me through my email.

Enjoy the day!!

Tuesday's Stamp-a-Stack

What a wild class I had Tuesday. I have a wonderful group of stampers (8 women and 1 man) who stamp a stack of 10 cards (two of 5 different designs) every month. They keep me challenged by creating all sorts of cards -- every day greetings, seasonal cards and holidays. The evenings are fun, busy and I think a stress reliever for many. Well, this last Tuesday everyone was in rare form. They were down right silly -- bantering, friendly bickering and GIGGLES galore! It was so entertaining. I love my Tuesday Stamp-a-Stack group. They are why I love what I do!

Here are the cards we made:

I cased this card from Patty's Stamping Spot.

I got the idea for this card from Angela's blog.

Found this card here.

Isn't he just the cutest little snowman? I just love this card. I got the idea from SCS.

Lastly, this is my FAVORITE. BTW I love snowmen and I love the snowflake die. This card I cased from SCS.

As you can probably tell, the first place I look for inspiration is at Splitcoaststampers. It's a wonderful resource. I usually try to change a few things on these ideas but sometimes I figure why mess with perfection!! Thanks for stopping by. Please come back soon.

Christmas Stamp-a-Stack

I've been working for the past week designing the above cards for my Christmas Stamp-a-Stack using the I Wish Simply Scrappin' Kit. These are just six of the cards we'll be making on Saturday, November 22. I actually cased these designs (making a few changes) from this blog. Why recreate the wheel when Jen did such a good job! I love using the Simply Scrappin' kits to make cards. My customers love it too. The Christmas SAS is usually my most attended event. I make it a fun day of stamping -- we even have a light lunch together. My sweet husband has been know to make some delicious soup for all of us to enjoy. It's a nice break from all that ink and glitter.

I've Been Busy!!

I can't believe the last time I posted was October 31! I've been very busy getting ready for my Stamp Camp which was this last Saturday. I've also prepared for my "Crop the Night Away" which was the night before my camp. I know -- I'm crazy to schedule to events back to back and work full-time -- but everyone knows I'm crazy!!

I spent the entire week struggling with the "Thankful" theme for my Crop the Night Away (CNA). As you can see, I used the new Autum Vine DSP and the coordinating stamp set
Season of Friendship from the Holiday Mini Catalog. For the title I used my Cricut. However, the sketch I picked didn't use a lot of photo mats so to make it work for the class I needed to find photos to help my participants visualize the layout. Many times I design layouts without having photos. About Tuesday night I began looking through my digital photos but couldn't find any from family Thanksgivings past that would work. I wanted the layout to be about Thanksgiving but if some of my customers didn't have Thanksgiving photos it needed to be flexible enough to change. That's when I came up with my title "Count your Blessings." Blessings can take any form and come at any time. However, it is during Thanksgiving that we set aside time to reflect and thank God for all he gives us. I quicky tried to find pics of all of my six grandchildren that live in Illinois with me. The pictures are from the past year. Little Ben is now close to his first birthday so he has changed a lot!!

Well, it ended up taking the entire week to create -- I hated it at first -- now I think it may be one of my favorites. I've truly been blessed with all the children, step-children and grandchildren in my life.

What do you think?