Holiday Dress Codes? What?

Happy Thursday friends….are you counting down?  THERE ARE ONLY 12 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS…OMGOSHHHHH YIKES!!  ACK!  I hate having the days thrown at me like that ahahaha as it makes me feel rushed, behind, frazzled and nervous LOL. My inner Grinch can come out when I have to go shop during the holidays…I am a pre-naturally nice person, laid back & easy going…BUT holiday shoppers and me do NOT get along well.  I have 90% of my shopping done but I have to get all those last minute things…gift cards, stocking stuffers, candy and baking goodies.  I’m the person standing in the store with a LOST look on her face, all the people make me nervous and make me forget what I’m there for…ugh…I hate crowds of people rushing around and PUSHING ME…DO NOT PUSH ME when you are shopping.  And forget about driving in Northern VA…its NUTTERS and DANGEROUS out there most of the time anyhow but forget-about-it during the holidays.  I’m gonna gift myself with those sticky-pad notes for cars…you know…when someone parks too close to you or crooked you SMACK their car with a “STUPID PARKer” post it note.  Or if the car takes 2 parking spaces you smack them with a “GREEDY GRINCH PARKer” post it note….ahahahahaha…I bought myself some yes I did and YES I will be smacking them all over the place trust me (don’t worry they are meant for vehicles so they don’t harm anything, its like a parking ticket).  A girl’s gotta have some fun while out shopping yes?!!  Which reminds me that we got a parking ticket in DC this past weekend…WHAT???  My husband has worked in DC for 19 years and I worked there for a few years as well so we know how to park, where to park, the rules & etc.  Sooooo apparently we parked in a zone that was “NO PARK” until 10 pm…and we parked there at 9:57 pm…ARE YOU KIDDING ME…SERIOUSLY….a $25 fine for 3 FRIGGIN MINUTES.  I swear if I’d seen that parking meter person I would probably have gotten arrested for the use of my mouth…my mouth can sometimes be seen as a deadly weapon LOL (at least according to my husband that is)  I guess the city needed my $25 on a night where there were NO people on that particular street for their coffers.  UGH I tell you city driving is for the birds sometimes…take your life into your own hands, risk injury to yourself and vehicle AND have to deal with the morons that are driving like nutters and NOW the friggin parking meter patrol people too.  Well Merry Christmas to you too Parking Meter Person bwahahahahaha…guess Santa wasn’t feeling very friendly that night..next time I’ll MAKE SURE to drive around the block to knock off those 3 minutes. UGH! I shall stick a GRINCH sticker on the parking meter person in my mind to give myself a laugh on it all!  And this is why I want to barricade myself in my home during the holidays like a big, hermit-like bear watching Elf and Hallmark Holiday movies…eating candy, cookies and hot cocoa enjoying MY TREES and decorations LOL   BTW, I have to edit my holiday photos so I will have the slideshow up on Saturday of my decorations for you all…sorry.  But I’ll share a sneak of one tree below:

Our almost 12 ft live Family Room tree decorated with ornaments that are our family faves.  So I have vintage Coca-Cola ornaments, the kid’s first baby shoes, their ornaments I pick out for them each year as a gift, doggie ornaments and such!  It’s a Christmas Tree full of meaning for our family!

NewsBitz:

Don’t forget about the CMC Holiday Bash!  There are some fun challenges going on right now with the chance to win some absolute fabulous prizes..every challenge you do gets you a chance to win the Silhouette Cameo as well!  Everyone is welcome to join in AND make sure to check out the Charity we are sponsoring this year too, every $3 donation gets you entered for the Cameo and other prizes!  Lots of ways to win and lots of fun to be had. YOU HAVE UNTIL JAN 4th TO ENTER ALL CHALLENGES!!!  So goooo play,have fun…win & come see what all the excitement is about!

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What?  Holiday Dress Code??

Today I’m sharing probably one of my fave holiday cards I’ve made this season. Why?  Well because I love Saturated Canary images and she was just FUN FUN FUN to color…I had no big to-do list, I had Christmas music playing and it was just me coloring…laid-back fun!  This cutie-pop is called “Ugly Christmas Sweater” from Saturated Canary and she’s a digi image.  If you haven’t tried a digi yet or are intimidated by the images and the coloring…DO NOT LET THAT STOP YOU!!  Part of crafting and art is having fun and trying new things…when you stop trying new things and let fear stop you from things life just isn’t as much fun.  So try a digi, color your heart away and enjoy the process of it…who cares if its not perfect, an image colored with passion & love shows.  So GO HAVE FUN…that’s an order…FROM ME…LOL!

I'm entering this sweetie into the following challenges:

Make It Monday (anything goes)

Crafting For All Seasons (red,green & sparkles)

Christmas at Sweet Stampin (Holiday anything goes) 

Freshly Brewed Challenges (Christmas)

The Lollipop Ladies (spiral & candycanes)

Nutcrafters (lots of layers & bling)

Simon Says Stamp Challenge (fave tool/stamp)

I used some papers from last year from Teresa Collins called “Christmas Home”…I love the graphic, modern look of these papers, perfect for my image!  I distressed the edges of my papers with my Zutter Distress machine--just ONE of my fave tools to use everyday.  The swirls are done with two different dies…the black swirl is a Memory Box die called “Amira Flourish” (cut into 2) and the red swirl was done with a Marianne Designs die.  I added a sentiment that comes with the image and some buttons tied off with Baker’s Twine (I love love me some twine)!

She got colored with both Copics & TouchTwin (TT) markers.  To make my reds darker and shadows darker I used W7 and W3.  I always color everything first THEN I go back and add my darker shadows…ink dries lighter so I like to add more color at the end to get the level of contrast I want.  (Hair: TT-BR92,TT-BR93,E35,E31,E50 / C9,C5,C3,C1 / R29,R24,R22,R20,W7,W3 / TT-Y41,YG67,G20,YG03 / E11,E00,R20)  I added some Stickles to her tree on her sweater, candy cane bag and around the image like sparkles.  My fave Diamond Glaze is on her glasses and shoes…why Diamond Glaze…well of all the glazes I like the weight of this one, it stays where I put it and doesn’t go all runny on me KWIM.

Ok that’s it from me until Saturday!  Hop over here this weekend to see a new Stamping Bella project and all my holiday decoration pictures!!  Have a great week!