It’s Chillin’!

Happy Saturday friends!!  It’s a busy day here at the Dean household.  Alexa is taking her SATs for the first time at 8 am oy, 5 hrs of college testing…fun for her & not for meeeee yay LOL...I remember taking those beasts ugh!  She’s taking them with her BFF Grace (otherwise known as my 2nd daughter) and then afterwards we are all going HUNTING…yup hunting for our family room tree at Snickers Gap Tree Farm near the Blue Ridge foothills.  Time to start decking my halls and trees and bannisters and mantels…time for the Nutcrackers to go up…time for Riley to set up our Christmas village…hang the homemade (by Gram) stockings up including all the pet’s stockings too LOL.  We will get the family room tree up and lighted tonight and then decorate it tomorrow on Football Sunday….can’t miss the games ya know so we do both   I’ll be working on the other 5 trees I have on our first floor this evening…too cold for me to want to string lights & do the trees outside right now, maybe on Monday we shall see and finish up basement trees.  All these people in my neighborhood have their stuff up before Thanksgiving…it PEEVES me…makes me feel rushed & behind LOL, I hate that feeling! UGH!  But I will be done in a few days and all will be good right? Heehee I hope anyway.  I plan on having some Caramel Apple Cider (like the yummo kind at Starbucks) brewing in the Crock Pot tomorrow…get recipe HERE and some soup on the stove and fresh bread baking..that’s MY plan anyway.  I absolutely ADORE this time of year, everything about it makes me happy MINUS the crazy-mad drivers/shoppers…but the rest is pure BLISS.  We will watch Elf tonight as is our tradition…we watch it twice a season cuz’ its our FAVORITE ever (“I’m smiling, I’m here and I’m smilingggggg”)  IT’s ALL ABOUT TRADITION HERE….we don’t vary the schedule or the things we do during the holidays much….if me or hubby even tried to change something the teens would SQUAWK LOL!  So hoping you all have a wonderful weekend planned for yourselves as well!

PS--- for everyone that watched my daughter’s All-County chorus video of “Unchained Melody” <HERE> and left such sweet comments on FB and YouTube…we thank you & Alexa thanks you very much too.  AND YES, that girl’s bun in front of Alexa made me want to SCREAM LOL!

NewsBitz:

-CMC Holiday Bash starts Dec. 7th…get ready for some awesome fun challenges, games & prizes!  All are welcome!!  Go HERE to see!

-Read thru this post CAREFULLY to see how to win some sweet Holiday Blog Candy from me ok??

-I added NEW DT Girls to my CMC Design Team and they are wonderful ladies!  They are joining my already fabulous team of girls and so excited to have them start in January.  Go HERE to read more about them!

-Don’t forget to join in the Magnolia-licious Holiday Blog Hop <see this post here> to get in on the fun and for 2 chances to win big!!

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Chillin’ with the Stars!

Today I’m sharing a super cute stamp with you all…OMGosh I love this cutie patootie penguin, I just wanna squish him LOL!  This is a stamp from the Wild Rose Collection (for those in US Stamp & Create has a fab selection) and his name is “Pickle with Present”.  This card is for my son for a few reasons…he LOVES penguins even more than me!  Secondly he LOVES pickles and this penguin’s name is Pickle ahahahahah….its like kismet I tell ya!  **and yes I bought a few of these Wild Rose stamps heehee, I had no self-control**

I'm entering him into the following fab challenges:

Card Crafters Circle (bearing gifts)

Crafty Ann's Challenge (animals)  

Fussy & Fancy Friday (Christmas)

Jingle Belles (Christmas)  

Stampin For the Weekend (texture) 

Winter Wonderland (Christmas/Winter)

I used a mix of papers from BoBunny’s “Powder Mountain”(10% off) paper pad & Authentique’s “Festive” paper pad. (LEAVE A COMMENT ON THIS POST TO BE ENTERED FOR 1 of THESE HOLIDAY PAPER PADS & a SURPRISE TREAT…just tell me what your fave cold weather drink is by Tuesday ok??)  My son’s favorite color is red (mine too) so that’s why I added the red accents to this project.  I punched some snowflakes from my MS & EK Success punches and added MS Snow Glitter (man I love this stuff, much better than REAL snow lol).  Bow was done with Bow Easy and sentiment came with the stamp set.  And yes I used my fave Zutter Distress machine to rough up all the papers…one of my 12 most fave craft items (more on that & a fun contest on my blog to come next week)! 

I colored him up with Copics including the background which is always fun to do! Colors:  B39,B34,B32 / C7,C5,C3,C1 / W3,W1,W00 / R29,R22,R20,W7 / YR23,Y11,Y00,E35.  To deepen the shadows on the red I added W7, to deepen yellows I added E35…layering colors gives you more depth.  And for all those that have taken my Copic Classes in person and GROAN when we do FUR…well here’s one for ya, yup I did fur just like I teach in class (and you all know how so you can do it too LOL)!!!  The little white snowflake/stars are the negative punch out from the MS Border punch I used (its fun to use all elements).  I also used MS Snow Glitter (I’ve heard its discontinued boohoo but this product HERE looks similar, I ordered some to try out) on the snow on the ground….and used my Quick Glue Pen to add Glamour Dust to the sky so it sparkles.  (If you’ve come to my classes you’ve heard me rave about Glamour Dust..I love it…you can put it on with glues, its great OVER Stickles to make them sparklier and fab looking when sprinkled in Diamond Glaze )  His furry trim on his hat was coated with Sparkly Fluff (in white).

 

Have a chillin’ weekend & see you here Monday for Gina K Release projects!