STAMPIN' UP BELLS & BOUGHS

Happy Monday!!
Is it getting crazy at your place yet?  I think by tomorrow I will be in my "frantic" mode.  Still haven't even started making my gifts yet -- so many ideas floating around in my head.  My kids have mentioned so many different things that they want me to make for them, that it is hard to narrow it down a bit.  I guess I will start with the things they asked for last year, which I didn't get done and will keep me busy right up until Christmas Eve.  Thank goodness the guys in my family never seem interested in hand-made gifts.  Or could it be that "I" am not very talented in that area?  I think it is the later.

I have been fooling around for 3 days just completing cards that I started "last year."  Yep, don't even ask me to explain, but the short version is I completed about 60 Christmas cards from left over supplies and projects I started last year.  I am so tired of having this huge plastic wash tub full of stamp sets, cut card stock, accessories, etc. sitting in my storage area.  I have actually enjoyed doing them (maybe it is because it gives me an excuse to not start something new?).  So, because I have been fooling around and not creating "new" projects, I am showing you a couple of cards I have gotten this year and one of my cards (from last year) that I finished this morning (I had supplies for 10 cut and ready to go).

This is my card from last year, I just changed it a bit.  Everything but the designer paper is still current product:  Bells and Boughs Stamp Set, Belle Standard Wheel, Gold Embossing Powder, Cherry Cobbler Ink and Card Stock, Sahara Sand Card Stock, Very Vanilla 1/8th inch Taffeta Ribbon, Watercolor Brush with Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green, and Tea Stain Ink.

This is a card I received from my sister Lois Purcell.  Love that Glimmer Card Stock!!

This card I received from my friend, neighbor, and customer:  Cheryl Tonkin.  And, no, she did not do this card at one of my classes.  She is a very talented stamper on her own!

This card I received from another friend, whom I am forever in debt to because of all the times she has typed her heart out entering product into my Automated Excel Workshop Forms.  And that would be Linda Tarolli, from New York.  Isn't it so cute with all the bling and Mica Flakes.

Thank you ladies for the beautiful cards.  I am being totally honest when I tell you that receiving hand-made cards really is the highlight of the holiday season for me.  It is so true, even for us stampers, that it truly brightens your day to get a stamped card in the mail -- forget the gifts, I'll take a card any day!!

I probably won't be posting again until after Christmas, so I want to express my gratefullness to all of you who visit my blog and take time to leave a comment (another thing I love).  And I leave you with these words from one of my very favorite stamps this year (it so expresses what I want to say and exactly what I would never be able to come up with on my own):  "May the miracle of Christmas find you safe in the Peace of God, warm in the Light of Christ." -- Stampin' Up Gods Blessing

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
Sandi
"Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife."  -- Matthew 1:24
"Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading."  -- Chambers