Friday, December 31, 2010

New Beginnings!

Happy New Year--2011 to you all!  So today is 1-1-11, hee hee---looks kinda funny and doesn't happen much either!!  Wow it's the new year already and I can't believe the holidays flew by so very fast!  We had a wonderful holiday here at the Dean house and we were surprised to wake up to a white Christmas morning.  It was the kids first white Christmas, it snowed very prettily for a few hours but nothing stuck thank goodness (just the kinda snow I like).  Santa was very good to us all and he brought Riley a new drum set and guess what Santa did?  He dropped it off in large boxes for Mom & Dad to put together on Christmas Eve until 3:30 am, LOL--oh the fun!  They both got their new Ipod Touches so they were excited--Riley said it was one of his favorite Christmases so that's good!  I got hubby Apple TV and we've had fun playing with that.  It can link up to YouTube so just for fun I watched a minute of one of my YouTube videos on our 80" tv, LOL--oh my how I hate to hear or see myself especially that large, hee hee!  I got some nice gifts as well including a gift certificate to take some gourmet cooking classes with hubby which will be fun!  We had Christmas dinner at my brother's new house this time, usually I host as we don't like to travel on Christmas day.  But I made an exception this year since my neice and nephew were in town special and I don't get to see them very often.  I realized that I don't have very many pics of Christmas, I always get caught up in the day and forget to take pictures, LOL! (bad mom)!  But I'm just thankful we were all healthy, had a good holiday and got to spend some quality time with family--that's what its really all about!  We're not real big on doing up New Years Eve so we just watched movies and had some food with friends at home.  Alexa went to a friend's party for the evening as well.  I have some pictures below in a slideshow to share with you all of some of our holiday joy!

The best part of taking time off since hubby always takes off a whole week was spending time together and NO WORKING, LOL!  I got to read bunches and I enjoyed some really good books so if you are looking for a few good reads I'll list what I read below:

-At over 1000 pages Ken Follett's "Fall of Giants" is overwhelming (but on Kindle you don't know how thick it is, lol) but it was EXCELLENT!  So gripping and well written and I love a good historical novel mixed with fictional and non-fictional characters.  I read it in 3 days and it was really, really good!

-Another good book is new by Kate Morton called "The Distant Hours"--historical, mystery & suspense, melancholy and romantic all mixed together always makes her books worth reading.  Really good as well.

-Also great reads are Mermaids in the Basement by Michael Lee West, 1022 Evergreen Place by Debbie Macomber, Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay and A Secret Kept by Tatiana De Rosnay.

Christmas Eve Slide Show:


Christmas Day Slide Show:




 NewsBitz:

-My Holiday Special on all online copic classes at the Color Me Creative Classroom is still ongoing until Jan. 4th!  Check out the deals on the main page HERE!

-My next traveling copic classes will be in Nashville and LA later this month(sign ups are on-going)!  If you want details visit my site www.cmcroad.com!  Nashville Class hotel location will be announced this coming week!

-I will post my winner of the holiday blog candy tomorrow for you all!!


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New Year, New Beginnings!!


Well its been a full 6 months since my term as a Dirty Girl/Dirty Dozen DT member for Splitcoast Stampers so I get to start sharing some of those projects with you this year.  We have to wait 6 months before we can share our work so it's only been on the SCS Fan Club gallery.  And I have a TON of projects to share so it's nice to have a backpile of projects to use during the year, LOL!  I'm crafting today but I haven't been in my craftroom since before Xmas (yikes)!  This is one of my favorite cards that I had done and to me butterflies signify new beginnings, new life experiences and new goals--perfect for the New Year!

This card uses a beautiful butterfly image from a gorgeous Gina K set from last year called "Hope is Faith".  Gina K created this set to raise funds for the disaster in Haiti last year---although I don't think any proceeds go to charity any longer you can still purchase the set HERE!


I love to create WOW cards---white on white with bright pops of color!  I used lots of texture to really make the layers on this card pop more.  The dry embossing was all done with CB Embossing folders (swiss dots, textile texture) and then I used my oval nestabilities for the main image cut-outs.  Three matching rhinestones at the top and a bow made with my bow easy finish it off.  Oh yeah, I got a NEW SB Grand Caliber machine and some of those awesome new Grand Dies and it is freaking AWESOME!  I cannot wait to share a project with you this week done with those new bigger dies--I LOVE THEM!


I used one of the main butterfly images from the stamp set and colored it with copics and then cut it out.  Then I added 2 layers of Diamond Glaze on top of the butterfly to make it shiny and stiff (let each layer of glaze dry before you add another).  Once the glaze dried I added stardust stickles to the top of parts of the butterfly for pretty sparkle THEN sprayed the entire butterfly with Smooch Spritz (vanilla) for more subtle sparkle.  Because the glaze gives the image some depth and strength, I was able to bend the wings to make it look realistic and then put it on the card front with Scor-Tape.  Ta-Da!  A pretty card for someone special in your life!

So Happy New Year to you and here's to NEW Beginnings, NEW Life experiences, NEW Goals and a wonderful year for us all!



21 comments:

  1. First, Happy New Year dear friend. I pray that your new year will be healthy and happy. :-)

    Second, I absolutely love this card. Of course I always love all your cards. :-) But the butterfly is my symbol, so it immediately caught my attention. I like the simplicity of it and then the pop of color. Great job.
    Many hugs, PJ

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  2. Suzanne,
    It looks like you guys had a wonderful Christmas. I hope the New Year brings you many blessings!!Thank you so much for sharing your talent =)
    hugs,
    Shell

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  3. Good morning in the New 2011 dear Suzanne!
    Wow was just like yestarday I come to visit you and it's already one year gone.
    Thanks for the amazing projects and for the lovely and enjoying posts.
    Wish you a magical New Year!
    Hug's
    Renkata

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  4. Happy new year Suzanne!

    Just thought i'd stop by and say Hi and can't wait to work with you on the Instyle Stamps Chicklets DT!

    Hugz

    Sal
    xx

    P.S. I'm also following :D

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  5. Suzanne another wonderful creation! You did a beautiful job with the butterfly! I agree, butterflies make me think of new beginnings also! Sending wonderful wishes for a happy, healthy, and creative 2011! Happy Creating! Sara

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  6. Happy New Year!!

    I have a few Copics on order that I didn't have to try out your distressed ink coloring look. I can't wait!!! Perhaps another new video (or two!) will be coming soon??? Please????? Can't get enough, lol!

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  7. Beautiful card! Love the way you made the card mostly white with a pop of color in the center.

    I hope you have a great new year!

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  8. Hey Suzane,
    Happy New year!!!
    Nice videos!! Santa left lots of pressies...!!!
    I wish you an awesome year, lots of achievements, love and peace!!!
    xxx
    Vivi

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  9. GORGEOUS Suzanne.....your coloring
    is beautiful as always.
    Wishing you and your Family
    HEALTH and HAPPINESS for
    the New YEAR.
    Love the Christmas pitcures
    Hugs Linda

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  10. Beautiful butterfly card, Suzanne! Love the pretty colors with a touch of sparkle & shine.

    Thanks so much for sharing your family Christmas pics with us. Such a joy to see you all enjoying each other.

    Happy New Year, my sweet sweet friend!

    Huggies ~ Sharron♥

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  11. hey there, just stopping by to say hello and can't wait to work with you on the chicklets team :o)

    hugs

    Amanda x

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  12. Great projects as usaual Suzanne! I am glad to hear you and your family had a wonderful Christmas. I can't wait to see what you create in the new year

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  13. Hi Suzanne- My mom got the book The Distant Hours on her new Nook for Christmas- she loves it too!! Happy New Year!

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  14. Beautiful as usual! Happy New Year to you and your family. Glad you go to spend time together.

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  15. Yep, I read the paper copy of Fall of Giants and talk about a whopper to hold, lol! Have the Kindle on my iPad and that would have been so much better than lugging that book around. VERY riveting and my favorite book of December! I have a Secret Kept on my iPad Kindle and looking to start it soon. Thanks for the other mentions on good books...adding to my list :o)

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  16. Hi Susanne, I am happy to see that your family was able to share in a wonderful Christmas Holiday together. It always makes me feel wonderful when the four of us have time off to spend just us and enjoy ourselves together. :O) It looks like your family is like that too. Have a wonderful rest of your weekend. Hugs, Lisa G

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  17. Love your butterfly card, Suzanne - I've missed your blog. Glad to hear you all had a great Christmas though and sounds like Santa was very good to you.

    Hope you have a great New Year, you sure made ours a good one. And, thank you for sharing your family pictures with us; it's easy to see how they keep you motivated with all those smiles and love.....

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  18. I LOVE butterflies :) This is so soooooo gorgeous!!!

    Happy New Year to you and your family xoxo

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  19. Thanks so much for sharing your Christmas with us. You have a beautiful family. You are so lucky the snow didn't stick where you are, we were digging out for days...lol

    and thanks for the insite on the books will have to download some samples.. can always use a good read..

    Now on to your card. Magnificent the butterfly looks like it just landed on your card

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  20. sounds/looks like you had a wonderful time, also a beautiful card. Happy New Year to you and yours x

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  21. Happy New Year!!! Love that card ... and so happy you like a book by an Aussie author (Kate Morton). I got an iPad for Christmas so now have all your recommendations in my wish list!

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I appreciate all your lovely comments and taking the time to stop by! hugz,Suzanne

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