Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2013!  I always look forward to new starts and new plans!  I don't make resolutions because I've not had a great track record at keeping them!  Tell me I'm not alone in this!

I wanted to wish all of my readers the very best for 2013!  May it be your happiest, healthiest and most prosperous year yet!

As promised, I have some blog candy to give away, to celebrate.  Celebrate the New Year, celebrate my birthday month, and to celebrate Stampin' Up's 25th Anniversary!  Woo hoo!  Big Party!  I have three packages of goodies to go.  (Only to readers who live in Canada, unfortunately, as I can only ship in Canada.)

Here's the prizes:  Third Prize:

An unopened pack of Noel Notes Simply Sent (pg. 17 in the Holiday Mini), a partially used pack of Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper Stack (pg. 20 in the Holiday Mini), and the Bold Snowflake Single Stamp.  The Festival of Prints stack still has 37 of the 48 sheets of double sided designs.

                             Second Prize:

 

 

Partial packs of Early Espresso and Cherry Cobbler Core'dinations card stock (5 1/5 sheets and 9 1/2 sheets out of 12 sheets respectively) and an unused Sweet Pressed Cookie Stamps Holiday Pack.

 

 

                         First Prize:

 



 

 

A Snowflake Soiree clear mount stamp set (pg. 5 in the Holiday Mini) - brand new, a partially used pack of Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper Stack (pg. 20 in the Holiday Mini) - 38 out of 48 double sided sheets; Partial packs of DSP - Be of Good Cheer -11 out of 12 sheets, Snow Festival - 5 out of 12 sheets, and Candlelight Christmas -  7 out of 12 sheets.

 

Now how are you entered in the draw??  You need to do 2 things. 

 

1.  Leave a comment about your plans and expectations for 2013 right here on this blog post.

 

2.   Join my site.  See the little box in the right hand margin, that tells how many followers a blog  has?  Well, mine looks a little pathetic and embarrassing.  I know there are more of you who read my blog.  Do you think you could click on "Join this Site" and help to make it look respectable?  If you have already done that, then you just need to leave a comment.

 

I will draw 3 names on January 14th, when I get back from Leadership Conference in Orlando.  So you've got lots of time to leave a comment!  Looking forward to hearing from all of you.

Tag! You're IT!

Well, it's Saturday.  You've made it through another week!  What are you planning to do for R & R this weekend?  I remember weekends when I was a kid would go on forever.  We thought up so many cool games to play and it seemed like little lifetimes would pass as we used our imaginations to their maximum capacities.  Then there was still time to read, and read, and read...

What were your favourite books growing up?  I read reams of Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden and other mystery series.  But my favourite all-time stories were the Chronicles of Narnia.  I yearned to find a secret magical land where I could reign as Queen and take part in battles and adventures, while really still a child!

But our favourite times were warm summer evenings, when we could play outside until it was good and dark.  A great favourite was "Kick the Can", and the best part was the chase that took place as you raced toward the can to kick it before the person who was IT would tag you!  Where ever you see children, you will likely see a game of Tag taking place.  It is probably the universal game!

And speaking of tag,  I decided to create a few for Christmas and for some up-coming workshops.  I used that versatile paper stack, Festival of Prints, which has Christmas prints on one side and every day, multi use prints on the reverse side.  This makes them great for Christmas, but also for the rest of the year, if you don't use them all up.  You get 48 sheets in a pad and they are 4 1/2" x 6 1/2".  Just right for a standard size card, or you can get two tags from each one.

Combine the Festival of Prints Paper stack with some cardstock, an ink pad and one of these stamp sets: Scentsational Season or Traditional Touches, and you've got a great beginner's stamp kit!  You should try it!

First I cut out some fancy label shapes with the Big Shot and the Labels Collection Framelits. I used Early Espresso cardstock for the bases and embossed them with the Square Lattice embossing folder and the Argyle embossing folder respectively.  I added the Festival of Prints DSP next and stamped the images on the Very Vanilla panels.  I added a little fork bow to the gingerbread man tag and some Rhinestone Basic bling to the ornaments, then some Real Red 1/8" Taffeta ribbon to finish off.   The sentiments are both from the More Merry Messages stamp set.  Aren't they cute?  They would look great on your Christmas parcels, wouldn't they?



I'd love it if you left a comment telling me what your favourite games and books were when you were a child.  Your comments really make my day!  So, "TAG, you're IT!"

Stamps:  Scentsational Season (w121026; c121190); Traditional Touches (w128018); More Merry Messages (w126400; c126402)
Paper: Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper Stack (126904); Early Espresso (119686) and Very Vanilla (101650) cardstock
Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pads in Early Espresso (126974) and Cherry Cobbler (126966), Stampin' Write Markers in Early Espresso (119680), Cherry Cobbler (119681) and Lucky Limeade (123002 as part of the In Colour collection)
Accessories:  1/8" Taffeta Ribbon in Real Red (119251); Rhinestone Basic Jewels (119246)
Tools:  Big Shot (113439); Labels Collection Framelits (125598); Square Lattice embossing folder (119976); Argyle Embossing folder (127750)

Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper Stack

Scentsational Season Stamp Set

Traditional Touches Stamp Set

Argyle Embossing Folder