Happy New Year My Friends!

Well I hope you all had a fabulous holiday this year!  I know I have enjoyed it very much and I’m still “technically off” until Monday.  That is why you haven’t seen much of me on my blog lately—when I take off for the holidays I REALLY take off and try to stay off the computer and away from my craft table.  I know a lot of you have time off and you GO to your craft room to get away BUT for me that is considered “work” even though I enjoy it…I still gotta get away from it to recharge my mojo.  I know…I know…this energizer bunny DOES need to recharge her batteries now & again…shocker! LOL!  Plus I’m getting ready to start packing up my studio for a move downstairs to my new room that is much larger…still lots to do before that happens but I’m excited. I hope to be done by middle of February with it & then I’ll share some photos and yes it will STILL match my blog LOL!  But more cabinets and shelves, a new table/desk and a new chandelier!

We had a fabulous Christmas and Santa was good to the kids of course!!  They got lots of cool prezzies BUT their biggest presents they were sent on a Holiday Scavenger Hunt for.  I always do this for the largest present as I think its more exciting and builds up the anticipation for them!  They always get 5 clues…all done in limerick/riddle by me and they each are labeled with their initial and a number (the order they should be found) so they don’t accidentally pick up the other’s clue.  Then hubby and I hide them in the places that coordinate with the riddles the night before.  Riley struggles a bit more with the limerick but he finally figured it all out LOL.  Alexa’s big prezzie was a new Apple Mac Pro laptop (her Toshiba of 6 years had literally died 2 weeks before).  The funniest thing is that after she opened her gifts and there wasn’t a laptop under the tree…she says “oh well maybe next year I’ll get a Mac” LOL!  Then I handed them both their first clue and asked if they accepted their mission hee hee---yes we videotape the whole thing.  Riley’s large present was a case for his Warhammer game pieces---if you are NOT in the know its an EXPENSIVE fantasy/war game played by teen & adult boys LOL all over the world.  Riley has always been into wars (of all ages) and battle strategy so him & his friends play this every weekend at our local hobby shop.  I don’t understand any of it but it uses lots of math & thinking so I’m all for it LOL!  So he was thrilled!  And yes they got lots of NFL gifts that they asked for…I told you we were a HUGE football family   Below is a slideshow of holiday pics for you.  We spent Christmas day in our pjs at our house just hangin’ out & enjoying the day.  Then the next day we went to my parents house to celebrate with my entire family—good time, nice & relaxed & fun. 

I am off thru Monday to celebrate the New Year with my family.  We are headed to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore today—they do lots of fun New Years Eve events along with fireworks over the water so we are looking forward to that.  Then back to the grind for 2012 and I have LOTS & LOTS planned for the new year so just wait---I’m super excited about the things I have coming this year.  Whoo hooo and happy to have you all with me along for the journey!  So a very Happy New Year to you all—may it be blessed and fabulous all year long!

Slideshow of pics for ya: (if you get my blog by email click here to see)

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Gina K Release Hop!!

Today the Gina K DT is having a fun blog hop for the NEWEST stamp releases for Gina K including “Stately Flowers 2” by Melanie Muenchinger and “Mountain Wilderness” by Theresa Momber.  So make sure to hop around (see list at bottom of post) today and leave comments for your chance to win a Grab Bag filled with stamps!

I love to color flowers, I love to look at flowers, I like to grow them outside…but alas I can’t have them inside because my one cat EATS them all to shreds LOL.  So I will settle with all my paper versions and the ones in this second set "Stately Flowers 2" (sequel to the first “Stately Flowers” ) and just as beautiful!  I chose to do the Kentucky Camellia (the smaller flower version from the set) for my project.  I love pink Camellias so I colored mine pink and used papers from Authentique for a very feminine card.  The bottom I punched with a MS border punch for an elegant edge.



The doily die around the image is very delicate which I loved---went along with the softness of the flower image.  The image was colored with Copics R22,R20/YG95,YG97 and the edges softened with SU ink.  Then a nice coat of stickles of course to bling that flower up a bit!



My second project uses Theresa’s “Mountain Wilderness” set which is fantastic for those nature lovers and masculine projects!  I used 3 of the stamps to create a mountain scene for this card.  I distressed all the edges, used a CB emboss folder, brads and some buttons & twine to round out the “wilderness” look.  I used some Copics softly to just highlight the stamp images a bit (W3,W1,YG95,C3,C1,BG32) and then added some stickles to the water to make it sparkle.

Now continue hopping along today and leave comments for a chance to win Big!!!  Happy New Year everyone!

• Gina K
• Melanie Muenchinger – Illustrator Stately Flowers 2
• Theresa Momber – Illustrator Mountain Wilderness
• Michelle Woerner
• Sharon Harnist
• Suzanne Dean (that’s me—thanks)
• Tina Gilliland
• Vicki Dutcher
• Carolina Buchting
• Cathy Tidwell
• Deb Felts
• Donna Baker
• Giovana Smith
• Jennie Harper
• Jimmi Mayo
• Lee Murphy

Happy Holidays!!

Hellooooo all my friends!  Where the heck have I been huh? LOL—just busy with holiday stuff-s and spending time with my family—that’s what the season is all about right?  We are holly-jolly happy in the Dean household---the weather has been in the 60’s which is FANTASTIC.  Alexa & I were out grocery shopping yesterday and we had short sleeves on, I freakin’ LOVE THAT!  It made the traffic & crowds not seem so bad.  Although I did have a “shopping cart” incident where the case of soda fell off the bottom of the cart in the middle of the road outside of Wegmans and my cart got lodged on top of it.  The funny part?  The cart was so heavy from all the groceries that me & Alexa couldn’t lift it up over the soda case (yes it was my Cherry Coke lol) so traffic has NOW stopped & we are laughing hysterically.  Two ding-dong girls trying to lift a loaded cart but it NOT moving an inch—oh what a sight that was!  BUT—chivalry does exist cuz a very nice man came to our rescue & helped us out.



So the kids are out for school (lord help me) and last night Riley had 4 of his friends over to play Madden Football on the Xbox 360 & play pool & have a sleepover.  Alexa was over a friends house making cookies for a bit while I was in the kitchen cooking & baking!  My parents are coming up today for a late luncheon so I made some goodies---buffalo wing dip, pineapple cake w/ buttercream frosting, Muddy Buddy mix (yum & so addictive, see here if you have no clue what I’m talking about lol) & we’ll have some cold salads & panini’s too (I loveeee paninis—Reubens, Roast Beef & Honey Ham paninis).  Christmas Eve will be spent at dinner at our fave restaurant which is a tradition—no cooking for mom yayyyy!  Then Christmas Day we are not going anywhere or having anyone over---that’s a first in 17 years.  So we will stay in our jammies, have some sweets for breakfast and hang out and then have a quiet dinner (Prime Rib—yummers).  Then Monday we head to my parents house to exchange gifts & have dinner with my entire family—good times!  We are sticking around our house thru the New Year and I’m looking forward to sleeping in and reading a bunch of good books!!



The other day Alexa & I had arts & crafts day on the kitchen table---it was a MESS!  I was working on the ornaments below and she was making a Smash Book for her BFF Maddy with LOTS of help from Mom of course LOL!  Have you seen the Smash Books (go here for a great selection)?  They are fun, quick & easy scrapbooks to make.  I bought one to create a scrapbook of my travels, when will it get done? Not really sure but I have all the supplies to make it hee hee (duh right)!  So Alexa did a good job with my help hee hee & then we took some pictures to share with you all—then headed over to her friend’s house to give it to her.

So I hope you enjoy the holidays wherever in the world you may be!  May it be filled with joy, love, laughter and family & friends!  Enjoy every minute and I wish you all a fabulous New Year as well!  Thank you for your kindness, your support & friendship this year and thanks for following along with me on my travels, journey & incidents.  I’m sure 2012 will be just as good or crazy or sweet or fun or a bunch of things and I am SO LOOKING forward to it!! 

Slideshow of my Rec-Rm Christmas Trees AND Smash Book

NewsBitz:

-Don’t forget my first Copic classes of the New Year will be in Anaheim, CA on Jan 28th before CHA!  If you want to come I still have a few spots—go to www.cmcroad.com!  I’d love to meet ya!

-All the classes (not just the Copic ones) are on Holiday Special thru Jan. 5th—so hop on over to the CMC Classroom to see if any want to hop into your holiday stockings ok? LOL!

-Also don’t forget about the HUGE HOLIDAY CHALLENGE going on thru Jan 5th at the CMC Challenge Group!  A Cricut Mini machine, a Kindle & more fabulous gifts will be given away---EVERYONE is welcome to join and there are many ways to play ok!

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Holiday Music Notes

So my latest addiction is Pinterest---if you haven’t heard of it, well go over & check it out and have fun!  I have found so many great ideas and recipes!  I saw some fabulous sheet music ornaments from Etsy pinned on the site and knew I had to make some.  Below is a quick slideshow of how I made these if you wanna give it a go.  I had vintage music sheets that I used for my ornaments and then I dumped lots of Deco-Art Glamour Dust on top of them while they were wet so they sparkle prettily.  I dressed them up with some flowers, bows & holly leaf cutouts.  They are now hanging on my tree—I just love them!  And so easy to make!



Slideshow of how to make these for ya:


Xmas Glitter Graphics

Spreading Christmas Cheer for all to Hear!!

Happy Sunday everyone!  Yes the Dean family are HUGE “Elf” movie fans—we watch it twice every holiday season (if you got that tidbit from my blog title today lol).  Gotta love Will Ferrell in tights hmmm? hee hee I love the scene where he tells the raccoon “hey little guy, you just need a hug dontcha’?” LMBO and when he drinks the whole bottle of Coke at dinner with syrup on his spaghetti--ewww Oh yeah we can quote that movie all the way thru trust me!  Today hubby and I are marathon shopping to finish up so if you live near me---WATCH OUT cuz we are coming!!!  I have a few stops to make and I want it to be quick & pain free.  I was almost involved in a MAJOR accident the another night in my car with Alexa—I was sitting at a light and 2 other vehicles almost had a high speed collision in front of me and I could just see one of them hurtling into us.  Scared the bejesus outta me since I had the other accident this spring when a teen who was texting on his phone rear ended me at 60 mph—NOT FUN & I ended up with a concussion & whiplash.  And this weekend a teen was texting and the kid ran his car up a hill and into the side of a house—yeah my son’s friend’s house.  SCARY---slow down people, pay attention and GET OFF YOUR STINKIN’ PHONES when you are driving for goodness sake—no phone call or text is ever worth losing a life!  You don’t want to ruin your holiday or someone else’s KWIM—life’s already too short, don’t make it shorter.  AND YES this is a public service announcement from Suzanne LOL but it is the truth!  I’m afraid to drive during the holidays—people are SCARY!

So this post is a mumble-jumble of holiday goodness for you---read thru the end ok for a fun treat for your ears!  I have pictures in a slideshow of most of my trees/holiday decorations in the slideshow below, a few of my cats and Alexa’s chorus concert. I will add more pics later this week when I get them taken for ya--I am missing pics of my rec-room jewel tree and outside of my house (I have a light strand out so gotta replace that first lol).  I love sitting in my family room at night with all the trees lit and the lights off—holiday goody-ness for sure!  On the tv at my house currently?  Either a holiday movie or an episode of “Chopped” or “Iron Chef”.  And don’t even get me started on our fave show this season “Once Upon a Time” – oh yeah we are LOVING that one (anyone know why Lil’ Red Riding Hood looks like a slutty Amy Winehouse—really she does, just sayin’ LOL)!

Slideshow—come to www.scrapbitz.blogspot.com to see pics if you get this by email:
And here’s a holiday funny for you---NAKED SANTA—yes indeedy you know if there is one that I would find it for my trees.  I got this cutie from Etsy.com cuz it makes me laugh and makes me HAPPY!  LOL—yeah I’m a strange one but you gotta love a naked-Santa-bum!! (bet those are words you’ve never heard uttered huh?)


My CMC DT is the BEST GROUP of gals I could ever have asked for!  I love these ladies and so happy to know them all and call them friends.  Not only are they talented but also big-hearted, fun and generous and I feel blessed to have them on my team!  So these great ladies pooled together and bought me a FABULOUS prezzie---oh yes they did! (see below)  YEP 2 NEW Zebra (zebies, love me zebies) suitcases for traveling in 2012---oh yeah just my style and I ADORE THEM!!!  AND NOT ONLY that but each day two of them are posting a project they made & sent to me on their blogs----awwwwwww….how sweet is that?  I am so honored and totally humbled that they would do that for me…it ALMOST makes me cry (but I’m not a crier…I think)!  So please if you have a chance, make sure to stop by their blogs to SHOW THEM some love for me ok—they are super talented so you won’t be disappointed!  (the list & dates are below for ya)



CMC DT Post Order:

15th Renkata and Sandie
16th Ruby and Steph
17th Shelby and Marie
18th Suzanne F. and Hazel
19th Michele and Andi
20th Charlene
21st Pat and Melanie
22nd Jenn and Dana
23rd Brook and Anary

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Also the CMC Challenge Group is having a HUGE HOLIDAY CHALLENGE thru Jan 5th and lots of great prizes!  Everyone is welcome to join in with Copics, ProMarkers, Distress Inks & Colored Pencils for this challenge ok!!  So read all details below and hop on over HERE to join in the fun!!

NEW CHALLENGE #33 will run until January 5th!

Your challenge this time is all about

** HOLIDAY JOY--in Golds. Creams & Whites**

Show your holiday joy with sparkling colors of GOLD, CREAM & WHITE!

(yes you can use some other colors like hair/skin/etc but the majority of colors should be Gold, Cream &  Whites) 

We want to see you use YOUR COPICS, COPIC REFILLS OR COPIC AIRBRUSH SYSTEM (Or ProMarkers and Colored Pencils)

Use Inspiration Pictures Below as well!

CHALLENGE RULES

-Use any image you want BUT MAKE SURE YOU LINK BACK TO THE CMC CHALLENGE in your blog post!!

-ALL PROJECTS MUST BE NEW & NOT BACK-LINKED!!

-Image MUST be colored with Copics or ProMarkers or Colored Pencils! 

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For this Challenge we have LOTS OF PRIZES!!

AND A WAY TO DONATE TO A WONDERFUL CHARITY!!

WHAT YOU CAN WIN:

-1 person will win a NEW Provocraft CRICUT MINI machine

-1 person will win a NEW KINDLE E-READER

-1 person will win a $50 Gift Cert. to SCACD

-1 person will win a $25 Gift Cert. to the Paper Temptress

-1 person will win 5 digis from Tiffany Doodles and a $15 Gift Cert to 7 Kids College Fund and a Gilli Gift Bag

HOW TO PLAY:

4 different ways to enter

-Enter up to (2) TWO projects into the link system below by Jan. 5th

-Enter (1) one project into the BookEndz Challenge

-Donate a $3-5 donation to the Charity below for 1 entry

-Donate anything over $10 to the Charity and get 2 entries

OUR CHARITY:

Reading is Fundamental is the charity I have chosen to sponsor this season.  As you all know I am an avid reader and it amongst my very favorite things to do in my spare time.  I truly believe that literacy and reading opens up many doors in life for everyone.  Not only can you find joy in books but it opens your eyes to other cultures, places and people that is so worthwhile.  And just the fact that a huge part of life involves being able to read--to get through school, get a great job and navigate through life.  For me teaching children to read early on in life is a MUST yet so many children are not provided with the basic materials to learn to read.  So this charity is a non-profit that provides books to children and opportunities to bring literacy into areas that need it!

** CLICK HERE to DONATE **

thru a secure First Giving Site (make sure to enter your name if you are entering for a prize)

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And a last thought for you all today cuz I know you need more crazy-silliness from me, yes you do, I know you do!! LOL!   This song was written for me, yes it really was….don’t believe me?  Well then….just listen to the chorus of this song & you’ll know that it was made for me.  When I first heard it I almost drove off the road LOL—its my new theme song!  Hope you like it!!!  (PAY ATTENTION TO THE CHORUS ok)

Silver Bells!!

Happy Thursday everyone!  How’s your holiday preps coming along!  I’m hoping to get some more of my prep done today and then be 100% finished by Sunday evening I’m hoping (shhhh let me live in my happy delusion ok).  I am choosing my holiday recipes with Alexa solely off the Pinterest site—I kid you not that site has the yummiest recipes.  WARNING—do not go looking at that site when you are hungry trust me on this.  You will be left drooling with yummies floating around in your head YES the holiday season is all about the tummy yummies of course….its not a great holiday if you aren’t groaning with happiness after each meal and then SQUISHIING into your pants the next day right?  Ahhhh the joys of fudge, eggnog and ham and fudge and turkey and fudge….yeah you get where I’m going with that LOL!  So enjoy—it only comes once a year so you gotta live it up!!!!

And this morning we are off to the orthodontist with Alexa—yeah she’s super thrilled about that—uh huh….NOT!  But she has to have them for at least 7-9 mos to straighten up those top teeth so she’ll have them off by her junior year of high school.  Let me tell you this is a hot topic of tension in the Dean household, yes it is…she is not a happy girl about it but oh well.  Gotta do what we gotta do and sometimes life isn’t always what its cracked up to be and isn’t always fun!  Santa is bringin’ Alexa a brand new set of braces this holiday season LOL (hahaha yeah she won’t find that very funny)!

Ok so I’ll keep it short for ya today since we all have lots of holiday stuffs to do hee hee!  I will be back tomorrow with a long BUT fun post for y’all so please stop on back by!

NewsBitz:

-Remember all classes over at the CMC Classroom are on a Holiday Special Sale right now so hop on by!

-If you are in California or will be for CHA this January I’m teaching my Copic classes on Jan.28th and all details are at www.cmcroad.com – I’d love to see you there!

-My super Holiday Extravaganza CMC Challenge is going thru Jan.5th with fabulous prizes…including a NEW Cricut Mini machine, a Kindle and other sweet goodies!  So hop on over---there are LOTS of ways to enter and donate to a great charity too!

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Silver Bells….well how ‘bout Silver Accents!! LOL!

Today the Gina K DT has a fun blog hop planned for you using a new Stamp Kit called “Nature’s Greetings” (you get the stamp set, papers, ribbons & brads & DVD when you purchase).  If you have been hopping you came from sweet Michelle’s awesome blog, so make sure to continue on your hop below! I also have some yummy blog candy to give to one lucky commenter—so leave a comment on this post by Sunday, Dec. 18th!!



I decided to keep my colors to silver, black & whites.  I used two stamps from the set to create a fun background paper in black and silver inks.  Then if you look closely there are crystal polka-dots on the paper too---I made those by dotting on Stickles (in stardust). I put the tip of my Stickles down on the paper each time to create a perfect uniform size polka-dot throughout the paper.  The silver cs from PTI was embossed and then I added a border made with a MS border punch.  The main image was embossed---for a fun look I stamped the butterfly from the set in silver metallic ink and then embossed over it with white EP.  So the silver shows thru the white just a bit.  Then I used a Spellbinders Nestie to cut it out and dotted along the nestie shape (with the cs still in the die) with my silver Sharpie pen.



So that’s all for me today BUT REMEMBER if you leave a comment on my blog post (by Dec 18th) you will be entered to win a NEW Gina K “Make a State-ment” stamp set! Now that’s some calorie free holiday goodness

Ok so now you need to hop on over to

Tami’s fabulous blog HERE!!

Grey Skies, Happy Times!

Hi all my friends and ONLY 10 MORE DAYS till Christmas----ackkkkkkkk! LOL I am sooo behind on my shopping that it isn’t even funny—Sunday hubby and I are going to finish all the holiday shopping.  We are like a tag team in the stores hee hee—running this way, texting each other and then meeting up at the cash registers.  Its fast and with a list we can finish up quickly with only a few stops—just the way I like it.  Then we have a marathon wrapping evening each year where we have lots of yummy goodies to snack on and watch movies while we wrap every last present.  We usually finish up around 3 am LOL exhausted but at least its all done.  Hubby is a very sloooooooooooooooow & meticulous wrapper so I assign all the large or oddly shaped presents to him while I rip thru wrapping everything else and adding bows & tags.  And yes I pick a color scheme each year and everything matches---last year was teal, silver, hot pink & green.  This year its all white, silver and blues (yeah I’m anal that way so shoot me).  Then we lock up everything in our spare bedroom until Christmas morning.  We have been doing it like this since the kids were tiny hee hee and sometimes it was almost hilarious the things we’ve done.  Building tricycles, barbie houses, train boards, and last year putting together a complete drum set for Riley---oh my goodness & you know the directions are never good so it takes twice as long as it should. (James and I are looking at each other saying "why did they only send the directions in Japanese?" LMBO)  GOOD TIMES RIGHT?!!!  That’s what holiday memories are all about! (and the stress, craziness & exhaustion too)  The funny thing is that as the kids get older the present pile gets so much smaller but so MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE—now how the heck does that happen? LOL ;)

Tonight we are headed to see Alexa sing with her women’s choir at the high school.  She has a solo so this mom will be very nervous for her but oh so proud.  I hope to actually remember my video camera this time to tape it all—yes trust me I forget it a lot or forget to charge it (yeah it’s a running theme in my life, ask my hubby).  Riley has a band concert at his school tonight as well but because he has 5 concerts this month, one of which I already went to we will head to Alexa’s tonight.  Then see his other two band concerts next week—whooowheee it is hard balancing concert nights when they are not in the same school.  Next year they will both be in high school so it will be a bit easier (I hope).

NewsBitz:

-Ok so there is HUGE MONTH-LONG CHALLENGE over at my CMC Challenge Group (runs thru Jan 5th).  There are lots of different ways to enter for all the fantastic prizes (including a NEW Cricut Mini Machine, a Kindle and other fab crafty prizes).  You can also enter by donating to a charity “Reading is Fundamental” which promotes literacy programs and books to children—reading is one of my fave things to do and I think it is so very important to establish early on.  You need it to get through life, school and for fun so I always support reading programs.  By donating you can get entries into the prize pot—so even if you don’t have time to make a project (theme is golds, whites & creams) you can still enter.  I do a couple charity events a year and hope to raise some money for a great organization.

You can see details of the charity & donate HERE!  Head over to the CMC Challenge Group to see all the details, ways to enter & prizes!!

-Anyone going to CHA in Anaheim, CA in January?  Anyone live in CA & want to take a Copics class with me?  I will be teaching on Jan.28th in Anaheim for 1 day and all details/registration is up at www.cmcroad.com – I’d love to see ya!!

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Grey Skies Can Bring Happy Times!!

So today I Brake For Stamps has some new Wee Stamps (a Whimsy Stamp Company) in stock & for sale and they are just cuteness personified!  This lil’ cutie is called “Spring Bringer” and even though we are not yet in the depths of winter here (ugh) I am ready for spring LOL!  I love everything in bloom, warmer weather and more sunny days—makes me a happy girl.  So I’m bringing a little bit of spring into your day today for ya!!

My papers are new from Teresa Collins “Carolina Breeze” – I absolutely love the gray & soft yellow colors and patterns in this paper pad.  The sentiment is from PTI along with the silver shimmer cs I used.  I used a mix of Wild Orchid Craft flowers & rosebuds along with a Cherry Lynn Designs die for my leafy scroll.  The embossing folder on the yellow cs is a newer one by Crafts Too “Scrollworks”.

I'm entering this into the following fun challenges:

Make it Monday (anything goes)

Paper Creations Ink (bling it)

Cutie Pie Challenge (sentiments)

Pile It On (bling)

The Crafty Pad (no xmas or bdays)

Awww isn’t she a sweetie-pie?  I colored her up with Copics C7,C3,C1,C00 / Y11,Y000, Y21 / E11,E00,R20 / E25,E33,E31,E50 / G20,YG93,YG97 & BG10. Then I added some Stickles to her wings, pants & flowers.  A few mini yellow pearls finish off her pant legs.  She was fun to color!



That’s all for me today!  I will be back tomorrow for a special Gina K Blog Hop—so stop on back by!  Holiday hugs to you all!

I’m a Kitty…Meowww…Meoww! LOL!

Hello all my friends—how are you this fine Monday?  It is brrrrrr…..COLD with a capital “C” here in Virginia oh my goodness…I cannot stand it…yuckers!  I need to get myself somewhere warm real quick—the icicles on the end of my nose are growin’ LOL!  I am feeling better although the head cold is lingering which I hate---gotta hate that ‘whoooooooooooooosh’ feeling everytime you bend over & move your head (and nope I haven’t been drinking hee hee).  And I want to thank EACH & EVERYONE of you that left me comments, sent me emails and facebook messages – that means SO VERY MUCH to me and I appreciate you taking the time to do that and thank you for your sweet sentiments.  The “issue” has been resolved thankfully after a long bit of time, lots of stress and mental pain and I’m happy to be DONE with it.  So I will NOT share what "place" did this because it was resolved and I’m not a vindictive kinda girl in any way….however if I know any of you are doing something with said place I might warn you carefully as I would hate to see anyone else get hurt.  But do know its not any of the places I love & work for But I’m done with it, over it and putting it all in its place—it’s the holidays after all and I am way late in getting my bum in gear for it (ahhhhhh Xmas shopping still to do…arghhhh…ackkk…yikes)

Now here’s some funnies for you below…yes stuff like this makes me laugh…yes I do repeat this to my family over & over….then laugh hysterically…why…cuz these things CRACK me up…told ya I was a weirdy hee hee!  They fit into the kitty-cat theme I have going today!

  

Have you discovered Pinterest yet?  OMGosh if you have hours upon hours to WASTE then I encourage you to go there ok…you can follow me if you’d like…then I will follow you so I can get more pins….cuz it’s a sickness I tell ya.  I got an invite last spring and I just now logged into it this past week LOL—thank god I waited cuz I was on it for like 3 hours.  Tons of fabulous ideas, crafts & recipes….my brain is full of ideas…yet sadly I lack the time to try most of them…but I repinned them so IF I get time I know what I can do (you can either thank me…or smack me another time ok…after you are done spending 10 hours on there)

The Dean family spent Friday at National Harbor outside of Washington, DC---we went to see the ICE Show at the Gaylord Resort which is always a highlite of the season for us.  It is a frigid 4 degrees inside and man-oh-man is it cold…my hand hurt so bad that I had to hurry thru the end…it was killing me.  Chinese ice artisans carve over 2 million pounds of ice for this show each year--so very cool!  And always fun and this year it was Merry Madagascar themed and you know what that means right?  Yep….zebies and pengys…Suzanne’s verbage for zebras & penguins…my fave!! LOL!  We spent the night at the harbor and also headed down to DC to see the National Christmas tree & state trees.  (I will say I was underwhelmed by the Natl tree…mine in my family room is bigger…I kid you not…I really don’t lol!)  So below is a slideshow of pics for ya to see!  I’ll have pics of my house this week for ya…gotta put up the greenery still as its been too cold for me to go & gather it. (if you subscribe you need to come directly to my blog HERE to see the pics)

Slideshow:


I’ll have a bunch of NewsBitz for ya this week including the HUGE CMC Challenge I have going on now where you can win a NEW Cricut Mini & Kindle and donate to charity!  All classes at CMC are also on a Holiday Sale!  Going to CHA—come take a class with me on the 28th of Jan….details at www.cmcroad.com !

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It’s a Birthday Blog Hop Today!!

Awhile back a friend of mine asked if I would participate in a fun Birthday Blog Hop to celebrate her birthday….well of course I would…how fun!  So we are celebrating Jeanine’s birthday today with a fun hop and a way for YOU ALL to win some yummy blog candy.  So if you are starting with me, head over to Jeanine’s blog HERE to see all the fun details ok!  And lots of fabulous, fun & wonderful birthday wishes to Jeanine today!

I’m using this super cute & new Elisabeth Bell image for SCACD called “Happy Days”---she’s perfect for a happy day eh!?  I just loved her big 50’s style skirt and cardigan (they had great style back then didn’t they) and I had a ton of fun making her skirt into a leopard pattern---that’s something fun I teach in my CMC Copic Class #5

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Corrosive Challenges (anything goes but Christmas) 

Basic Grey Challenges (anything goes) 

Squiggle Stamps (celebrate)

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge (anything goes)

I used some fab papers called “Little Black Dress” by Basic Grey---great patterns, I just love it!  The sentiment is from a PTI set and then I used some layered Primas to create all my flowers.  The black border was made with a MS Jumbo punch and the swirls are from Heartfelt Designs “Bella Rose” die.



So I colored my image with Copics- E33,E31,E50 / C9,C5,C3 / E11,E00,R20 / YR23,E25,YR20.  I drew my leopard print onto the skirt with my black Spica so it has a bit of sparkle then filled them in with copics.  Always color and shade your image first…then add a pattern on top.  Her sweater, shoes, hairbow and ruffles got a nice coat of Stickles—her belt buckle got gold Stickles.

Ok so that’s it for me today….hope you enjoyed this MEOW girl hee hee! 

So now you need to continue on your hop by going to celebrate over at

Jamie’s Blog Here

Blessings and some Reindeer!!

Hi everyone!  I apologize for my long absence here at my blog!  The first of December is always a bit crazy as I get my holiday decorations up and do some cleaning along the way.  I’ve also been catching up on things that were neglected while I was busy traveling & working—cleaning out closets, washing curtains and bedding and all that fun stuff—NOT LOL!  I have 2 more trees to finish up today and I’m all done—the kids put their trees up in their rooms so we are at a total of 11 trees.  Tree 12 was supposed to be on the patio but the stand is broken and I have yet to find a replacement tree in the stores and tree 13 was to be animal themed but I am not going to get that one done this year.  Riley has come down with viral pneumonia and as most of you know has asthma really bad as well—so he’s been pretty sick and we’ve been tending to him.  And then I have been sick as well so I am just a bit slower this year than normal but that’s ok—I got done what I needed to and I’m happy.  I will share pics of all the trees soon---I have to get greenery from the yard and its been raining/sleeting for 2 days so waiting for it to all dry out before I bring it in the house and then I’ll take the final pics of the house.  We did have a beautiful day to “hunt” 2 of our real Christmas trees, in the mid-50’s and we found 2 extra special ones for our house.  Below are a few pics—the big tree is 13 ft and is in our family room (oh that was fun to decorate, hee hee).

                                 

(Photos: me and Alexa at the tree farm, the kids & I with our 13 ft tree, my dog Casey dressed as “ELF” and 2 of my kitties in one of my decorations boxes)

I’ve also been through the wringer in a bad,bad way I am sorry to say.  I won’t go into too many details though, those of you that know me well are aware of the situation & I thank you for your support.  I have been burned bad by someone that I trusted, put my trust into for others as well and then got slapped in the face after the fact.  I’m still waiting for a resolution at this point and hoping for the best but that remains to be seen.  This has been ongoing for the past few weeks and it has seriously dampened my mood and stressed me beyond comprehension.  I don’t understand how someone can be so manipulative, two-faced and a thief and manage to run a business that caters to people who trust you and rely on you.  To lie to your face over and over again and then look in the mirror and be ok with themselves.  How can someone do that?  My trust was severely broken and my faith in people very shaken and during one of the most special times of the year for me & my family.  I have to say it took a beating on me both mentally & physically and that’s why I haven’t posted much, my spirit was just tired out and I did NOT want to put that out on my blog for you all.  BUT I have seen the good in other people, people willing to help above & beyond the call of duty, people who support me and will go to bat for me, and friends that will listen to me vent and I know that they are there for me no matter what.  That is TRULY the majority of people I know, people I’m lucky to have as friends and that is what the spirit of the season is about—those that love & care about you.   Who want to do good, who want to be a friend, and who want to help.  I am so very, very thankful for everyone that is in my life—I’m a very lucky girl no matter what happens.  I don’t count my success in money, or classes sold, or miles traveled but in the beautiful friendships I’ve collected along the way and the people that I have been lucky enough to teach & meet as well.  So to all of you, a big THANK YOU and I am a lucky girl and I am BLESSED this holiday season with my health, my family and my friends!

NewsBitz:

-All classes at the CMC Classroom are on Holiday Sale thru Jan.5th!  This includes my copic classes AND the Cricut, Distress Inks, Magnolia and Prisma Pencils classes too.  They make great gifts as well!

-I just sent out a Holiday/Decmeber News Blast to everyone who is a member of the CMC Classroom site (all are welcome).  You can find it HERE as well in case you missed it. It explains all upcoming events at CMC that you won’t want to miss!

-Next trip for me will be in January for CHA in Anaheim!  I will be teaching classes there on Saturday before CHA begins and you can sign up at www.cmcroad.com if you are interested—I’d love to see you!

-Starting Dec. 10th the CMC Challenge Group starts a month-long challenge with a HUGE Prize pot!  Prizes include a NEW Cricut Mini, a NEW Kindle and lots of gifts from some awesome craft companies! You can create projects to enter AND/OR donate to a worthy cause for an entry.  Yes once again I am raising money for a worthy organization this holiday season—let’s see what we can do this year!!  Details will be up at the site on the 10th!

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Santa’s Reindeer!!

This is a holiday project I made for a new Brazilian Crafts magazine—they asked me to create a holiday card for their debut issue! You can see more of the issue HERE and on the page next to me is my friend & DT sister Mindy Baxter as well!  This is also a special Mingle card that I sent to my friend Jean Hempel—if you are lucky enough to know Jean, you know what a sweet lady she is.  She has always been so kind to me, sending me lovely messages all the time and sharing a bit of her life with me.  So I wanted to send her something special for the holidays along with a few fun gifts to let her know how appreciative I am to know her!!  So a big thank you Jean for your friendship!!  And of course both of my stamps are from Magnolia-licious –the best place in the world to get Magnolia stamps!





I have used cute little “Reindeer Tilda” from Magnolia-licious along with another Magnolia sentiment stamp—she’s from the Merry Little Christmas collection.  You can see all the holiday stamps from that collection HERE!  The papers are by Bo Bunny “Blitzen” and I used a Sizzix embossing folder for the blue cs and a MS border punch as well.  The die mat behind the main image is by Spellbinders and snowflakes done with MS punches.  And yes some Stickles in a few spots too!

Remember that Magnolia-licious has a fabulous contest called “The Holiday Wrapped Up Challenge”—fun prizes to be had so come on over & join in!

Thanks everyone & see you back here real soon! Holiday hugz to you all!

I’m a SINGER..falalala!!!

Yay and thank goodness it is FRIDAY—yeehawww!  I am looking forward to some time OUT of my studio and OUT of the house LOL.  Tree hunting we a go-ago and praying weather is good.  Do any of you have any early holiday plans this weekend?  I hope to have all my Christmas cards addressed and mailed by Wednesday and NOooooo I do not make them (GASP..OMGosh…Nope)—I make SnapFish photo cards LOL.  I do mail out about 12 homemade cards to a few friends and family who really appreciate them.  And I’m wayyy behind on Christmas card making anyway this year, kinda like I’m a little behind on everything at the moment.  But that’s ok I’m slowly getting caught up and getting ready to sloooow down a bit.  Yes I DO slow down, maybe not to a standstill but to a sloooow buzz hee hee.  And I’m feeling a tad better yes, but I don’t get the flu shots to all those that emailed me—NOT cuz I’m afraid of shots (you don’t wanna go into my medical history) but I don’t like to put extra drugs into my system or take meds unless I have to.  Yep I'm that girl--I'm a Taurus--a proud Taurus--super stubborn and hard-headed--yes I am!!   And I did get the flu shot twice and got the flu both times, so I stopped getting it and have pretty much not had the flu that much until last year.  But I know my immune system is low right now, stress is high so buggies are gonna get me but like I said…not much slows me down except for the “d” word that rhymes with beth LOL.  You gotta keep kickin’ till you can kick no more.  So all will be ok in the Dean household this weekend—deck the halls we will goooooooo and doooooo---yes I’m singing to youuuuuuuuuuuu LOL!

PS—yes I am a BAD patient, yes I do NOT listen to advice, yes my mom is shaking her head along with my hubby right now. And nope it will never change LOL!

My 2 cairns cocking their heads – this what they do when I talk to them LOL and YES I do talk to them a lot (along with the walls and myself hee hee)

NewsBitz:

Winner of my Blog Candy from this post is……#157 Hilora!  Congrats Hilora—please email me at sjdean@smartneighborhood.net for details!!

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Sing Me a Melody!!!

Today is a new Elisabeth Bell release for SCACD called “Odds & Ends Sampler”---can I hear a yayyyy yeah!!?  I love, love this image and I even named her—how about that?  Her sweet name is Melody….yep cuz she’s singing some melodies bwhahahaha…yeah I humor myself when I type my blog hee hee.  I see her as a mini version of myself (ahem…a much younger version of meself) and yep I love to sing and dance and NOPE I don’t care where I may be!  Yes I am that annoying person that you all look at in a store going “really, is she dancing?” LOL oh yeah Doesn’t she just make ya happy?  You gotta be happy—life is short—smile, laugh, sing and dance more and you will be happy I promise, even if its just for a few minutes!!  So the DT is having a fun blog hop today to show off these great stamps so make sure to hop around and see, and you can buy them all HERE!!  You should have come to my blog via my friend, the very talented Melanie!!

I'm entering this into the following fab challenges:

Crafty Purple Frog (someone special)

Willie Sketchie Challenge (anything goes)

Cooking It Up With Katie (anything goes)

Divas by Design (anything goes)

Party Time Tuesdays (anything goes)

So I have been on a mission to use scraps from my HUGE scrap pile lately.  Now don’t get me wrong I loveeee paper and you can see all the NEW yummy papers at SCACD here (yep I can enable cuz I already got them bwhahahaha).  So its all papers from SU that I used and embellished (added black dots to the paper on right and then stickles to all the dots on all the papers).  The black cs was embossed with a CB zebra folder too…mmmm love me some zebra print yes I do. If you like animal prints too all 4 of the CB emboss animal print folders are 25% off HERE!  The swirls and mat die cuts are from Marianne Designs and the sentiment I created on my computer.  She’s such a cutie!



She got colored with Copics BG13,BG11,BG10 / C3,C1,C00/ E25,E31,E50 / E11,E00.  The swirls were done with a PTI set and then I shadowed around her with Copics as well.  She got Stickles on her star patterned areas and her pretty hair barrette.  Diamond Glaze on her brush for shine.



Ok that’s all for me, but now you need to keep hopping to see all the other cuties the DT has used today!  And as always you can shop for them all HERE!

So next on the hop is my talented friend

Anki