Teddy Bear Cuddle!

Happy Monday everyone!  YUP YUP…..I’m BACK….LOL!  Sorry…if you read my quick post yesterday I explained why I needed a week off after getting back from Canada for 11 days.  I had a blast with the ladies in Canada, I absolutely LOVE teaching up there but it was my last trip of the year…I taught for 6 days and I was just BEAT. Tired from a great, fun, fantastic but superbly busy year filled with a lot of travel, teaching, working, deadlines and more KWIM and I just needed some time to not worry about any of that.  So last week I caught up on laundry & cleaning (the things that DO NOT get done when I’m gone lol), cleaned & organized my craft room and cleaned my closet out.  Things that I’ve been wanting to do all year but never had TIME so I took the time and really got things done—my studio is FANTASTICALLY CLEAN now & you can see pics before & after below LOL.  The BEFORE pics are a bit scary...I have had NO time to get things picked up, put away and organized even tho I have a ton of organizational items.  Its usually me making a ton of deadline projects and then prepping for class, then leaving...then doing it all over again so I had a TON of cleaning to do LOL!  I also cooked dinners and spent time with my family…having dinner on the table so we can eat together during the week is superbly important to me…we are soooo busy and I feel this is one time we all really sit and talk and bond. I also had some foster kitties I was taking care of…so cute & cuddly…but am happy to say they got adopted by a good family today.  Soooo that means after Thanksgiving I will take in some more foster kitties…to my hubby’s dismay…ahahahahaha but its something near-n-dear to my heart.  We are headed to my parent’s for Thanksgiving and an early dinner…then hubby and I are off for a few days away without the kids on a belated Anniversary Trip and hubby’s birthday (45th) is on Thanksgiving too. We are fabulous at going away as a family but hubby and I don’t go anywhere by ourselves very often…so the quiet time is much needed & wanted.  Not that we don’t love our teens…of course we do…but we have them with us ALL the time…and all their friends too LOL!  In fact this weekend Alexa had friends over Friday night after the game…then both kids were gone yesterday…EXCEPT son brought home 6 of his closest buddies and a few stayed the night.  So we NEVER not have teens in the house or with us or wanting to go somewhere so I’m really looking forward to QUIET..yeah just some boring, quiet and peace.  Sounds like heaven to me right now.  Then I will be ready to come home & tackle the “deck the halls” madness that ensues at the Dean house….12 trees up in less than 5 days is my goal.  Most of my holiday shopping is DONE…rest should be done by Dec 1st so I can just enjoy, enjoy the month of holiday movies, hot chocolate, tree hunting, fireplace burning good times with my family….KWIM?

Some Pics: (click here if you get blog by email to see)
See my full craft room pics HERE

 


ScrapBitz:


-I have TWO (2) Silhouette Cameo machines left on the CMC site HERE…brand new in box and 20% off using the CMC Coupon!  Once they are gone that is IT for me for this year, I may get more in 2013 but not sure of that yet. 

-Black Friday Special at CMC --- Buy One CMC Copic Class (applies to my Classes 1 thru 5 and Hair Class only) and get one 50% off.  Deal starts Friday, Nov 23rd and lasts thru Sun, Nov 25th till 7 pm EST.  You can buy one for yourself and give one to a friend, whatever combination you want…but its for 3 days only!  After that deal is over! (no other special discounts apply, no past class purchases apply)

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Teddy Bear Cuddle!!

Today I’m sharing another holiday card…slowly but surely I’m getting there with them hahahaha!  I don’t send my cards to many folks..I make photo cards and send about 60 of those instead.  I got tired of stressing myself out every holiday to get all my cards done so now I do NOT stress…I simply make ones I want to and send those, the rest get photo cards..simple as that.  I figured life is too short, the holiday too precious to stress right?  So someone on my list will be getting this lil’ cute bear though LOL!  I just love him to squiggles

This lil cutie is “Cozy Christmas Bear” from the Little Christmas Collection at Magnolia-licious…can you say ADORABLE?  The great thing about this stamp is he’s not just for the holidays…you can easily make him/her into a winter card, birthday or love card…just use the appropriate papers/colors/embellies.  I used new papers from Simple Stories “Handmade Holiday”, I loved the dark maroon, green and kraft colors in this pack.  The matting behind the image is from a SB’s die, the holly vine is a die from La La Land Crafts called “Holly Flourish Die”..I love love love this die for the holidays!  I inked up the holly vine and cut it out of my dark green AND kraft cs papers and added rhinestones/pearls for berries.  The sentiment is from PTI.

And have you seen the NEW Nativity stamps from Magnolia-licious…OMGosh they are adorable!  Also check out the NEW colored images that the store has for each for-sale stamp (new collections) on the site…they are colored by DT members and show off the image and give you ideas how to color them as well—really useful!

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Challenges 4 Everybody (anything goes) 
Dream Valley Challenges (anything goes)
Joanna Sheen Challenge (cold &frosty) 
Stamping Sensations (traditional Christmas)  
The Crafty Pad (Christmas)

I paper pieced this lil bear’s scarf & hat…I love to do and incorporate paper from my card into my image…MAKE sure you go in and shade your paper pieces with Copics so it doesn’t look flat.  I used Copics:  E44,E43,E42,E41 / R20,R11 / BG000.  There is Doodlebug Flock in white on the furry parts of his hat…I also went in with a paintbrush and Distress Inks and shaded the flock a bit too so it didn’t look one-dimensional.  The pine needle nest I nestled him in was made with Art Glitter’s Enhanced Earth Elements in “Spinach”…I love using these because they are made from natural & organic elements and smell soooo good.  And the fun texture cannot be beat! (just apply with tacky glue)  Then I just added some Stickle snowflakes around him for sparkle!

That’s it for me today…I’ll be back on Wednesday with a NEW TouchTwin Challenge project for the holidays, so check back!  I promise I’m not disappearing again for a bit   Have a great week!