Best Present Ever and A Shirley's 2 Girls Challenge

Ta da! It's my workspace. I think this may be the first and only photo I've ever taken of it while working on a project. Please note the orange-handled scissors which were sent to me a few years ago by one of the lead Fiskateers. They're still sharp and highly functional. The scissors, I mean. Not the lead Fiskateers, though I suppose it could be said about them also. :)

And what was I working on? Lo! It is a card I made for this week's Shirley's 2 Girls Challenge.
I love their digital stamps, especially the ones with this Airdale Terrier guy. It's neat to see some dog stamps that aren't poodles or doxies. Nothing against poodles and dauchunds, but they always steal the show. The challenge theme this time was flocking, so on this card I used some light blue flocking on the shopping bag and wreath. I used some red glitter on the opposing lines on the bag just for contract. I actually printed the wreath in green which I was totally psyched about because I know nothing about how to do that kind of thing. I essentially stumbled arount Paint until I got it to turn green. I doubt I could tell you *how* I did it, but the point is, I did. So there! :)

Sooo, I was having fun with the challenge and decided to make a second card, same rules. The image is, again, a Shirley's 2 Girls one. I can never resist a mouse. This time I used Doodlebug red flocking, which, incidently is the darn finest flocking I have yet found. No, I'm not being reimbursed for saying so in any way shape or form (though I'm totally open to it, Doodlebug ;)). It's less clumpy than other brands which affords a lot more control and makes it stick a whole lot better. The other kind had to be coaxed into sticking and despite re-applying 3 or so times, never did give the nice opaque look that Doodlebug did. As far as your standard fuzzy flock goes, this stuff rocks my world.

So, what is the BEST present ever? Apparently it's this sheet of wrapping paper. My friend Jen, her daughter Vivi, and Pete the husband/dad brought over a slew of neat presents that were big hits with Scott and I, but if you go by the numbers, this got more immediate use by more members of our family than any other gift. Here, Usagi uses it as a tent, which she hung out in the whole time they were there. Later she left it, briefly to inspect something in the kitchen, then hopped right back on the couch and into her tent again.

When I got tired of sharing the couch with a tent, along came Weezee, who decided to camp out beside the coffee table.

And later, the tent proved to be magnificently fun to destroy. So very versatile! If you don't have a wrapping paper tent under your tree this year, your pets could be missing out.

On a Challenge Kick

This last week or so, I can't seem to get enough of doing challenges, so when I saw a Winter themed one at one of my very very super favorite digital stamp creators' blogs...Phindy's Place. She has some excellent mouse images, but this time I decided to use one featuring a slew of painfully cute puppies. After assembling the card, I thought it still needed something, so I made a snowdrift of ultrafine Flower Soft, which has a neat sparkly sheen to it just like fluffy snow.

Hamsters, Mailbox Surprises, and a Little Ho Ho Ho

Let's begin this time, with my entry in the MelJen's Digital Stamp Challenge. The theme is Red, Gold, and Green, which has inspired me to have Karma Chameleon stuck in my head for days. I went for a non-holiday specific stamp just for fun, letting the colors take over the job of being festive.

Surprise! I got this unexpected package in the mail about a week or so ago. It's from Big Picture, so I'm guessing they chose to send swag to me in particular because I'm like always taking classes from them. There's a free class you can sign up for now, so you may want to go over there to check it out. My favorite thing in the package is that excessively huge rubber band. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but I'm pretty sure it's eventually going to involve someone (me) getting seriously injured by a flying rubber band. I mean, how am I supposed to resist flinging that thing all over the place?

As promised, here is your holiday ho ho ho. Scott was inspired to pose in the Home Depot parking lot with our new kitchy wreath I fell in love with. It's blinding during the day. I love me some sparkle.

Happy Wednesday!

Xmas Xcellence at Teresa's and Another Rat Card

For those who don't know already, Teresa is one of my best pals as well as my intensely creative Stampin' Up demonstrator. She's always got some kind of clever class going on, so if you're like me and you like to frequent these kind of things, check out her site here. Here's Teresa, showing outstanding patience as she winds ribbons into little spools. She actually looks like she's having fun doing it, so I think I'll do her a big favor and bring my mondo huge basket of ribbon chaos over and generously allow her to wind them up for me. No need to thank me. I'm just that giving this time of year. I'll be back to pick up the ribbons tomorrow, okay? That should give you *plenty* of time to spool up about 400 scraps, certainly.

Another happy crafter sits daringly under the dart board, apparently ready for a round of the ol' William Tell routine. No? Maybe another time. Instead, she's making some cards shaped like Santa's middle. (If you see this, I'm very sorry to have to admit that I've forgotten your name. Could someone remind me? It's embarassing, but it takes me longer than most to learn names despite all efforts to do better. If anyone out there has suggestions or tricks for remembering names better, I'd be so happy to hear them, I'd pick one of you to send a surprise gift in the mail to.)

Gina, coloring some cardinal images. This one was my favorite card of the class, since the cardinal is our state bird and there is little prettier than seeing a vibrant red bird against the snow. Buddhist creation legend states that the universe began with the collision of red and white, and sometimes when I see that drop of red against a white sparkling snow that covers everything and makes the whole world look as if it's been wiped clean, it almost seems plausible.

Sorry, I got distracted. Back to the photos. :)

It's me, glitterfying snowflakes. Does my nose really look that angular? Wow, I really need to dye my hair.

Yay! It's me and my new pal, Gina. She's got rat terriers too, and a husband with degenerative disk disease like me. We attended Elizabeth's Creative Memories Open House, too, but I forgot my camera so I'm photoless, which is unfortunate because it was awfully festive. Lots of decorations, craft ideas and yummy things. Elizabeth is such a nice hostess, she didn't even seem horrified when I melted a plastic cup by filling it with holy-crap-that's-hot cider. Oops.

I've been a slave to challenges lately. I love being made to work within a framework like that. It forces me to be more creative with my projects instead of just doing whatever comes to mind. This card was made for the For Fun Challenges sketch challenge. I used some Club Scrap card blanks I'd been saving up for a Christmas project. Those giganto glittery brads are from one of their kits, too. I think they really work with the corner dealies.

I included this pic so you can see how it opens. I'm keeping this set to send out myself, so some of you may be looking at these up close and in person very soon. Ho ho ho!

Thanks for making it through all those pics. :) Don't forget about my little goodie giveaway. Leave me a tip for remembering names and I'll put your name in the drawing for a craftsy prize you can use to make your own cards.

Rats, Real and Faux

Oh. Were you watching me? This whole time?

Seriously? Me?

Vince! There's someone looking at us! On the other side of the glass! They're watching you take a bath.

You're imagining things, Howard. Other side of the glass. Pfsh.

No! It can't be! You're right Howard. There is someone out there.

Whew. Are they gone now?

Sit tight, Howie. Now that they can't see us, they're bound to go away.

_________

And now, the faux...a couple of rattie cards I made for the E.A.D. color challenge...

Keep an eye on my Etsy site! You'll see these and more making their appearance just in time for the holiday card and thank you note season. Whoo hoo!

Have a rat-tastic day from me, Vince, and Howard!

Some Holiday Craft Challenges and Whatnot.

Yet again, I let things pile up till I have way too much for one post, so you'll be getting several over the next few days. For today, I wanted to take the opportunity to show off some things I made for the Digi Day Challenges at The Stamping Boutique. I even won some free images from their shop with these, so I extra-highly recommend that you check them out and give it a try!

If you look closely at the image above, you can read my mom's superfantabulous Vegan "Sausage" Puffs recipe. And you *so* want to, because you will not regret making them. They're super easy and way yummy. She veganized an ancient recipe she found in an old 60's cook book and they will not disappoint.

Aww! Doxies! I'm partial to those hard-headed little hounds, even if they are always the dog training class problem children. They're always the ones who say, "Hmm...you have a treat in that hand? No? Well then screw that. I'm not sitting for you or anyone else." They're also really cute, clever little buggers as well, though.

And an attempt I made at trying to create an interesting gift wrap for a present for my brother Mikey, but when I finished, I realized that the gift didn't fit inside. I'm thinking Teresa's present might fit in this. Stay tuned. :)

And finally, this year's tree! Well, it's actually the same tree as the year before and the year before that, but this year the lights are green since I thought it would be neat to make a silver tree look like a green one (sort of). Ta da!

More to come. Happy Wednesday!