Tick Tock, The Countdown Clock!!

Happy Tuesday & Happy 10 days until Christmas!!  ACK!!  Are you ready for Christmas yet?  LOL--Thankfully my shopping is all done, decorating has been done, and cookies still need to be made!  Now just to get everything wrapped & we're done!  Friday we're meeting up with my family at National Harbor's Gaylord National Resort to see "ICE"--indoor ice sculptures & slides carved out of ice by Chinese artisans--can't wait--it will be a brrrrrr 9 degrees in there though!!!  Then we're having dinner at "Ketchup"--yes, they have many kinds of ketchup but lots of good food too (fun trivia fact--I love to use ketchup on everything, hee hee)!

Then on Saturday we leave for NYC for a 4 day trip--so excited!  Hopefully this year it won't be as cold as it was last year so we can do the carriage ride around Central Park--last year it was too cold for the horses (and me too).  Riley picked FAO Schwarz for his must-see, mine is "Dylan's Candy Bar" (candy in every brand, shape & color--YUM), Alexa wants to see the Library and James, well he'll just go along with whatever we say, hee hee!  We want to see either "The Nutcracker Ballet" at Lincoln Center or "Wintuk-Cirque Du Soleil"--we're trying to have a family vote to pick, but so far it's a tie, LOL :o) Lucky for us we have "someone" who gets us great tickets last minute & for great prices too!  And of course Rockefeller Center to see the tree, ice skating in Central Park & all the fun holiday windows at the stores!

So this Saturday will probably be my last post before Christmas and I will probably only post 2-3 times after Xmas to enjoy that time with my family.  Then I'll be back on the 4th of January 2010!

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NewsBitz:

-The winner of my Blog Candy is Donna of Indiana Inking---Congrats Donna!  Please email me with your address so I can get your goodies out to you before the holidays!  Thank you to everyone for playing along--I absolutely LOVED reading all of your holiday traditions--made me smile each time :o)

-Susana's Custom Art & Card Design has some awesome NEW products in stock now--NEW Kasiercraft 6x6 paper pads, Metallic Markers and Glitter Papers!

-7 Kids College Fund is running a 12 Days of Christmas Special!  Today is Day #3 and it's 15% OFF SALE on all Pink Cat Studio Stamps and Anything to Mount Stamps With (see all products HERE) on Use Coupon Code XMASDAY3 (THIS SALE IS ONLY GOOD TODAY)!  There are also 52 NEW Tim Holtz stamps in stock HERE & they are all 10% off until December 18th!!!

-On Thursday, Mo's Digital Pencil's Dream Team is having a fun "Pop-Up New Year's" Blog Hop!!  You won't want to miss it!  To view the Dream Team Gallery you can go HERE!

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Try It Out Tuesday #48--A Teen Fashionista Holiday

So today is a Tuesday which means it's another "Try It Out Tuesday #48" for Susana's Custom Art & Card Design store and it's the last challenge of the year!  I challenged the DT to BLING IT OUT--all sparkles, shimmers & shines apply!  This is easy peasy for me since I'm like a magpie and love anything sparkly, hee hee!  I chose to make a gift & card for my daughter--she's a shopaholic like me so this Elisabeth Bell for SCACD image "Fashionista" works perfectly!  I had to make this "teen appropriate" so I used my DCWV/Trimcraft papers which have such fun holiday colors and patterns.  I created a fun card for her and altered a lil' tin to hold a gift card to one of her favorite stores.

I colored her with my Copics and then added lots of stickles to her outfit, bags & shoes and some to the dp!  The swirls are rub-ons from Trimcraft, I added some sparkly glitter dots and then layered punched-out snowflakes with these cool lilac sparkle flowers (picked up in Michael's Wedding aisle).  The fabulous layout is from last week's Friday Sketchers Challenge HERE.  The sentiment is from PTI's "Stocking Prints" set.  (COPICS USED: V08,V06,V12,V00/YR24,Y21,YR20/C5,C3,C2)

I get packs of these lil' hinged tins HERE--they're easy to alter and make fun gift holders for gift cards, candy, jewelry & lots of other things!  I just covered it with papers to match--attached with my Scor-Tape and added another layered snowflake.  Inside it holds a Gift Card to Target (my daughter's card will be to Aeropostale and Borders though--but she was around so I had to use a different gift card, hee hee)!  A perfect gift set for a teen!  I love to alter images to make them fit different occasions--stretches your dollars and makes your stamps super versatile!

Make sure and hop over to the store blog HERE to see the rest of the DT's Blinged Out projects!!

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Copic Creations Challenge Blog--Coloring Pine

© House-Mouse Designs. All Rights Reserved

House-Mouse Designs Inc., P.O. Box 48, Williston, VT 05495

Since it's the 15th of the month that means it's also another Copic Creations Challenge--this time we're coloring pine and our sponsor is House-Mouse Designs!  I used this cute "Peppermint Pals" stamp for my card---these mice are just so cute cuddled up in their pine branch with lotsa yummy candies!  The patterned papers are from Imaginisce and SU--cs by SU & Coredinations.  This fun layout is this week's Mojo Monday Challenge #117---the holly border was done with my MS border punch.

I used these Copic Colors on my pine needles: YG25, G67, G20, G82, YG95!  After coloring the pine I added some stardust stickles to some of the needles for sparkle and the candies got a coat of diamond glaze on them!  And of course I used my favorite Nestabilities to cut out my circles---great deals on them all right HERE!

Now make sure and hop over to the Copic Creations Challenge Blog HERE to see the rest of the DT's projects--they're beautiful!  And if you join in on the fun, you could win a $25 Gift Certificate to House Mouse Designs store!

I'll see ya back here tomorrow!