Santa's Lil' Helper!!

Hello & a Happy Friday to ya!!  Are you excited it's the weekend already?  I sure am--this week has totally worn me out emotionally, mentally & physically I tell ya!  Thankfully we don't have much going on this week, but I DID talk hubby into taking us all to New York City for a few days (well, we're trying to plan it anywho) and stopping in Pennsylvania so I can meet Pioneer Woman---wahooo!  An early Christmas present for me for sure---isn't he the best hubby in the whole world :o)  I love New York City at Christmastime even if you do freeze your buns off, hee hee!  It will be a nice getaway for us before the holiday--we all need a lil' mental health break right now I think!  And I LOVE reading everyone's holiday traditions---how wonderful to read all the different & special ways you celebrate with loved ones--it really picked up my spirit yesterday!!  Hubby has off today so we'll probably go to lunch & finish up those last minute stocking stuffer gifts today while the kids are in school & then I will be all done--yay!

NewsBitz:

-You have until tonight at 11 pm (EST) to enter my Fun "Traditions" Blog Candy Giveaway---just leave a comment on yesterday's post HERE telling me what your favorite holiday tradition is!  One lucky commenter will win a few of my fave products for commenting.  And next week I'll have another larger Blog Candy giveaway as my Xmas gift to you!!

-On Sunday, December 12th there will be a fun Blog Hop for the NEW Gina K Designs Card Club DT--so don't forget to stop by to hop along!!

-Tomorrow I will have a NON-Christmas-y post for ya for those that are tired of all the Christmas projects--hee hee!

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Happy Holidays!

Oh how I adore these My Mind's Eye holiday papers from their "Colorful Christmas" collection--love the whimsical feel & colors of them all!  And paired with this lil' cutie "Santa's Lil' Helper" from Magnolia-licious--isn't she just a doll? (looks like she may be out of stock at the moment at Magnolia-licious, but a few others that would be super cute for this are "Wrapped Tilda" & "Jolly Tilda" or "Edwin Santa's Helper")!!   I created a fun lil' treat holder to go along with this as well--easy to make & a link to the directions are below!

The layout is for this card is this week's Mojo Monday Challenge #116--it's a real fun one!  Tilda is colored with Copics (will get back to you on the colors but the blues are B02,B01,B00).  The sentiment from PTI's "Signature Christmas" was embossed in white.  I had some cs cut-out snowflakes from the paper collection so I added a few with dimensionals & added some stickles for sparkle (stickles on her stockings & apron trim too)!  The bow was made with my Bow-Easy tool of course :o)  Her fur trim has a nice coating of Sparkly Fluff--love that stuff!

The treat holder was made with my Nestabilities Labels 8 die--my friend Tosh has a quick tutorial on making these right HERE.  I made mine one size smaller because I just wanted to fit money inside but this would hold small candies or jewelry as well.  Really easy to make & I love the shape!

She's a real cutie isn't she?  Love her!! 

I'll be back tomorrow with a non-Christmasy gift set for ya!!  Have a fabulous Friday!

It's A Circus!

Good afternoon everyone! Hope you all are enjoying summer so far--can you believe its July already? Sadly, the summer always seems to fly by--it's my favorite time of year! We're spending the day at the pool so I'm posting this early--I figured out how to delay my posts so that I can type them the day before and have them posted when I'm not here--yippee--it only took me like 4 months to figure that out--lol! Little by little I'm getting the hang of it!

Just a quick post today--I made this cute circus card for 2 challenges. One of the challenges is hosted by Melanie Muenchinger who is a stamp designer for Gina K. Her challenge was to make a card using her stamps but also you had to make it for another challenge too--dual challenges--I like it! I like nothing better than a good challenge to get the ole' mojo flowing! So the second challenge is for Julee's Mojo Monday Madness Contest in which you have to use her sketch to participate.

The stamp set I picked to use is called "Jumping For Joy" and I love the way you can use all the stamps together in different ways--remember this card--I used the same set. The dp and ribbon are from American Crafts and I loved the bright, circus like colors of it. I always pick out my dp first and then go from there as far as my creative process goes--everything is laid out from there. Everything was stamped, colored w/ Copics and then cut out. I put Diamond Glaze on the seal to make him wet & shiny and there are lots of stickles everywhere, & of course they're all popped up w/ dimensionals!! One thing I'd like to say about the diamond glaze--after it's dried on your cut-out image, you can bend it and it will stay, really cool to do with your stamped images (I bent the seals flippers out). To get the scalloped border I used my Fiskar's "threading water" border punch which I really like alot. (Enabler Alert--SU is coming out with a scallop border punch in their new catalog if you're interested) I added red brads to where the holes would be in the scalloped edge and the sentiment was cut out with my tag nestabilities. (You should see all the new nesties coming out--oh boy am I in trouble cuz' I love them all)!! I also used my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder on the bg cs to match the polka dots in the dp. I also cut out an extra star from the dp and popped it up on dimensionals & added some stickles--I thought that area of the card needed a lil' somethin' extra!

The little treat/favor box I made to match was done with my Cricut (Tags, Bags,Boxes & More cartridge). I just added some of the dp to it and punched some stars out w/ my SU star punches. I added some curly ribbon and stickles and tadaaaaaaa it was done. Just a fun, easy project for a kids party or treat before the circus perhaps. Hope you likee!

Ok I'm outta here--have a great day!!

Suzanne