Priceless!!

Dimensionals = 256
Snowflakes = 224
SNAIL refills = 5

Mailing 160 hand-stamped Christmas greetings to family and friends... priceless!

The other night, my table was covered with snowflakes and I had to take a photo. My Christmas cards are all in the mail finally! This year, we made two different designs - 96 of one and 64 of the other. My husband helped me with the cards for our family by cutting all of the snowflakes and the "Top Note" die-cut shapes so he is now quite the Big Shot expert. I appreciate that he gets involved in the process every year... and with only a little bit of grumbling! ; )

So, since I'm always racing against the calendar to get my cards finished, I haven't had much free time lately. That's why I've been absent from my blog... sorry!

I haven't been creating anything new lately either, but I thought I would share a cute little gift that I received from my friend and downline, Melanie. This little envelope contains a gift card (from Starbucks) and the envelope is actually what the gift card came in. Melanie added a beautiful ribbon bow and attached the Merry Christmas greeting punched out with the small oval punch - just a nice touch to this thoughtful gift. It's a quick and simple way to add a special touch and make a beautiful little package.

I hope you are staying safe and warm in this crazy weather we've been having... Not sure if I will be back to post again before Christmas so I will take this chance to wish you all the best of the season. I wish you a season filled with peace, love and joy. I look forward to seeing you in the new year!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

Free Shipping & Retiring Stamps on Sale!

Wow... lots of big announcements from Stampin' Up! today. First, they are offering free shipping on all orders of $100 or more from today until December 23rd!

And, they are offering 10% off all retiring stamp sets until December 23rd! These sets will continue to be available until January 18th when our current Idea Book & Catalogue ends but they will be at their regular price after December 23rd so now is the time to get them if there are any on your wish list still! Here's the list of retiring stamps with their discounted prices:

Ahoy, Matey - $26.06
Baby Jesus Is Born - $17.06
Beautiful Life - $22.46
Big Birthday Candle - $24.26
Brocade Basics - $26.06
Bronc Buster - $20.66
Bundled in Love - $29.66
Bursting with Joy - $20.66
Calendar Cues - $11.66
Canvas - $18.86
Classic Backgrounds - $17.06
Crab & Company - $29.66
Dad's Day - $24.26
Dots Are Hot - $26.06
Elegant Notes - $22.46
Everyday Flexible Phrases - $44.96
Everything Baby - $18.86
Fabulous Flowers - $24.26
Floral - $18.86
Form & Function - $18.86
Fruit Stand - $20.66
Ginormous Flowers - $30.56
Happiness - $18.86
Hattitude - $26.96
Haunting Halloween - $20.66
Hi & Hello - $17.06
It's All Good - $13.95
Just Golf - $13.95
Just Hockey - $13.95
Keep Christmas - $21.56
Kind Thoughts - $27.86
Light unto My Path, A - $20.66
Merry & Bright - $16.16
Moose You - $18.86
On the Fly - $21.56
Paisley - $18.86
Perfect Timing - $13.95
Pictograms - $14.85
Posy - $18.86
Pretty Peony - $39.56
Riot of Petals - $18.86
Seasonal Whimsy - $26.06
Seriously Sassy - $26.06
Sleigh Bells Ring - $17.06
So Cool - $20.66
Spring Pictograms - $15.26
Starstruck - $11.66
Stemming From - $17.06
Stitched - $18.86
Summer by the Sea - $30.56
Take Three - $18.86
Text & Texture - $27.86
Thanks for Everything - $18.86
Thoroughly Thankful - $24.26
Tree for All Seasons, A - $13.46
Twill - $18.86
Warm Words - $22.46
Well-Worn Alphabet - $44.96
Well-Worn Numbers - $24.26
Winds of Grace - $21.56
Wishing You Cheer - $14.85
With Gratitude - $24.26
Wonderful Words - $22.46
Wondrous Gift - $24.26

Stamp Sets on Sale!

From now until January 18, 2009, in celebration of Stampin' Up!'s twentieth anniversary, spend $20 on any Stampin' Up! products and get 20 percent off any stamp set from the Fall-Winter Sampler—no limit! Choose from any of the stamp sets below:

Item	Description	Retail	20% Off
111564	Flight Of The Butterfly	$37.95	$30.36
111752	Sur les ailes d'un papillon (French Flight of the Butterfly)	$37.95	$30.36
111676	Puns From the Past	$32.95	$26.36
111660	Just Jawing	$30.95	$24.76
112881	Je t'ai en tête (French Just Jawing)	$30.95	$24.76
111624	Dreams Du Jour	$22.95	$18.36
112869	Rêves au menu (French Dreams Du Jour)	$22.95	$18.36
111700	Thank You Kindly	$16.50	$13.20
111742	Tous mes remerciements (French Thank You Kindly)	$16.50	$13.20
111714	Wow Flowers	$15.50	$12.40
112652	Bonheur fleuri (French Wow Flowers)	$15.50	$12.40

Quilt update and thanks!

I'm going to take a little break from stamping tonight to post a thanks to some more of my stamping friends who have contributed fabric for our 100 Good Wishes Quilt. You can read more about this quilt here and here.

We've recently reached the half way point in collecting fabric for this quilt! Fifty pieces collected, fifty more to go...

Although we know our wait for Baby Girl is still long - at least another 2-3 years, if not longer - we are still so hopeful that this journey of patience will bring this special little baby into our lives. The wait is very difficult but sometimes when I'm feeling a little discouraged, I pull out the binder that stores all of these treasured fabrics and just imagine how special this quilt will be.

So, thank you to everyone who has contributed!

From Alicia and her family (which has recently grown by two little feet... welcome to baby Emma!). This piece of fabric was accompanied by the lyrics to one of my favourite songs - "My Wish" by Rascal Flatts.

From Hollie and her family. These two pieces came from Hollie's favourite receiving blankets which had been special to her with her babies.

From Debbie... such a beautiful, rich fabric that came with a good wish for love, happiness and peace for our family.

Thank you!

Bev & Brent

From Ottawa...

I had a chance to enjoy being in our nation's capital today... I went to see the holiday lights at Parliament Hill tonight - it was nice to see some festivities on the hill since things have been rather tumultuous there these last few days! I'm staying in a hotel only a few blocks away so I bundled up, played some Christmas music on my iPod and just went out to appreciate this beautiful city. I thought you might like seeing a couple of the photos I took while I was wandering...

I'm on my way home tomorrow evening but have the day to enjoy the city. I'm planning to go to the National War Museum in the morning and then I will go shopping if I have enough time before I have to leave for the airport.

This second photo is of the National War Monument. It's surrounded by trees with wonderful Christmas lights, but I just liked how this picture turned out. It's so surreal to stand at the base of this monument and I found it particularly spectacular in the dark tonight.

Well, I better share another card with you before I sign off. This was one that we had at this year's Santa's Workshops. It's actually a very easy card to make. I cut an oval template using my Coluzzle and then laid the template over my card stock, using a sponge dipped into Mellow Moss ink to sponge on the oval. Then I stamped the image in Chocolate Chip ink. Both stamps on this card are from the Sleigh Bells Ring stamp set. The greeting is stamped in Always Artichoke, then layered onto a piece of Mellow Moss card stock and attached with Stampin' Dimensionals. And, to finish it off, I had to add some ribbon, of course! This is the Chocolate Chip Taffeta ribbon. The main card is Always Artichoke and the card front is Very Vanilla layered onto Chocolate Chip card stock.

I hope your week is going well... only one more day until the weekend! Yay!! This is my weekend to get started on my own Christmas cards, which I am very anxious to do.

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

(All images copyright 1990-2008 Stampin' Up!)

An amazing card...

This amazing card was stamped by Lorraine for our swap last month... It's even more stunning in person! Lorraine has done some masking and lots of sponging to create this scene. For the trees, she drew the snow on by hand using a white gel pen. Thanks for the beautiful card, Lorraine.

I enjoyed my evening here in Ottawa. It's a little chilly, but it didn't stop me from walking to the Byward Market with one of my coworkers where we had a wonderful dinner. On our way back to our hotel, we walked past Parliament Hill which was busy with activity - lots of news cameras on site even though it was about 7:00 pm. The Parliament building looked amazing as there were snowflakes projected onto the main building and Peace Tower. I'm hoping to go back tomorrow night with my camera to see if I can get a picture of it.

Well, I'm going to get this posted and head to bed... sadly, I have a bit of a cold so I want to get a good night's sleep so that hopefully I can fight it off!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

(All images copyright 1990-2008 Stampin' Up!)

Welcome, December!

Christmas is absolutely my favourite time of the year. I just love everything about it... I love decorating, I love spending time with family and friends, I love shopping for just the right gifts, I love eating yummy treats, I love listening to Christmas music, and I love the spirit of the season! We decorated our house this weekend and Mom and I made our family's traditional meat pie (tortiere). Now it really feels like the Christmas season is just around the corner!

I'm in Ottawa right now and although it's a touch cold, I must admit that I liked seeing snow on the ground. And, I enjoyed walking around a different mall this evening looking for gifts... but I only managed to buy things for myself so that wasn't such progress! A new watch and 7 new Smurfs for my collection...

So, I'm done all of my stamping classes for the year and now I'm looking forward to getting my own Christmas cards made. It will be fun to get the assembly line going in the dining room this weekend and my husband always helps me so I love being able to do this annual project together...

I thought I would share a few more Christmas creations with you - I have a few ready to go each day this week so be sure to check back! The first card features the Deer Friends hostess stamp set. The second one is my friend Sonia's design and we made it as a Make-and-Take at our last meeting. Sonia used the Mr. Twigster stamp set and the Best Yet hostess stamp set for this fun card. And, the third card is another Make-and-Take from our meeting designed by Lorraine using the Christ is Born stamp set.

I'll be back with another card tomorrow night. Have a great day!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

(All images copyright 1990-2008 Stampin' Up!)