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.

Thanks for the Lovely Gift, Aunt Mabel!

The shopping is winding down for some of us!  We are getting our Christmas cards ready for mailing.  The decorating is almost complete. What's left?  Well, baking.  If you want to make some cute Christmas cookies check this out:

                                             125152 - Holiday Sweet Pressed Cookie Stamps
These make great holiday entertaining snacks or gifts.  Note that you have to use them on recipes without leavening so that the cookies don't expand in the oven and destroy the pattern on top.


If you still have some decorating to do and want a unique idea, how about the paper crafted ornament on the front cover of our holiday mini catalogue.  As I told you a post ago, they take a LONG time to create, but with some help from Stampin' Up, in the form of a new kit, you can put them together a lot more quickly and easily.  All you need are some scissors, hot glue or gluesticks and glitter.

  Ornamental Elegance Kit (132832) $17.95

 

There, everything is well taken care of.  Now the next thing you're going to need is a pack of Thank You cards.

 

I know, I know!  You hate and detest writing those difficult pieces of communication:

 

Dear Aunt Mabel,

                   Thank you for another lovely Christmas sweater (NOT)!  I hope you are well and had a nice Christmas.  We had a nice Christmas here.  Looking forward to seeing how you top this gift next year!

 

Yours truly,

Your loving niece

 

But dear Aunt Mabel went to some pains finding you a sweater THAT ugly, and needs to be recognized.  Maybe it would be more fun if you could MAKE a thank you card and send it.  Here's an example:

 

 I made this card using the Make a Mitten stamp set, which I haven't used at all up until now.  I wasn't too sure how to design with all those cute knitted design patterns, and I was kind of waiting until I got the coordinating punch, but thought I'd better hurry up and use it before the season is over!!

 

I used some Snow Festival DSP, which has some beautiful coordinating prints, and the sentiment is from the From My Heart stamp set.  I stamped the double mitten stamp twice in Cherry Cobbler, cut it out and glued the two images together to make double sided mittens.  I used Baja Breeze 1/8" taffeta ribbon between the layers  and tied in a bow to attach them to the card.  I'm going to be using this design for my next Technique Night:   Thanks Yous and Tags!

 

So maybe you could make one of these cards for your Aunt Mabel, and she wouldn't even care how lame the inside message sounded, she'd be so impressed that you made the outside just for her!

 

Stamps:  From the Heart (w126555; c126557);  Make a Mitten (w127940; c127943)

Paper: Snow Festival DSP (126908); Baja Breeze (111352), Cherry Cobbler (119685) and Whisper White (100730 card stock

Ink: Classic Stampin' Pads in Cherry Cobbler (126966) and Baja Breeze (126960); Stampin' Write Markers in Cherry Cobbler (119681), Baja Breeze (119700 - in the Subtles Colour Collection) and Gumball Green (126856 - in the 2012 - 2014 In Colour Collection)

Accessories: 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon in Baja Breeze (122964)

 

Make a Mitten stamp set

From My Heart stamp set

Snow Festival DSP