Gingerbread House Decorating Day!!

So those of you who are facebook friends know this past Sunday was our annual Graham Cracker Gingerbread House decorating day.  This is such a fun tradition with the grandkids - I look forward to it every year.  So here's the table set with fun decorating stuff -

and of course the houses :) If you want to see how we made the little houses - there are pictures and directions HERE.

Let the decorating begin - 

Makai, Heidi, Zavian and Prince

Prince, Jenee and Zamarah

Kamili and Paisley

And here are the proud creators and their final creations -

PAISLEY

PRINCE

ZAMARAH

KAMILI

MAKAI

ZAVIAN

And my girls also had to get in on the action -

JENEE

HEIDI

Then each year we take a picture of the kids with Gramma - we snapped about 15 pictures - which all ended up being craziness - here are just a couple of them -

Crazy smiles on some of those kids and I wasn't expecting the rabbit ears!!

More crazy looks - if I could photoshop I could probably come up with one great picture - but this definitely shows personalities!!

The rest of the day was great - spent some time doing Wii dance while the Turkey Dumpling 

Soup finished - then all sat down to a great lunch!  The kids especially love the dumplings - which were my Mom's (GRAMMA O's) recipe and one of my favorites.  So easy I'll share here - first make your soup - chicken stock, turkey, carrots, celery, peas, potatoes - whatever veggies you want, season with pepper.  Cook till all veggies are tender. In a bowl mix 1/2 stick melted butter with 1 cup flour and 1 egg, pinch of salt, 1/2 t black pepper. Stir till mixed will lose it's stickiness. (You can double or triple this if you want more dumplings)  Bring soup to a boil, break off walnut sized pieces and drop into boiling soup - cook at least 10 minutes - I like to cook mine longer - about 1/2 hour so they really get the flavor of the stock.  TIP - if you soup is already salty - leave the salt out of the dumplings - it will pick up enough from the soup. Stop back soon - and leave a comment on a favorite Holiday Tradition you have!! ~Maureen

Thanksgiving fun!

So our Thanksgiving was wonderful - Heidi has us all over to her home (I think there were 23 or 24 of us all together).  It was a wonderful day of good company and great food - and believe it or not I did not take one picture.  Don't know how that happened.  But Heidi sent adorable favors home with all of us, so I did take pictures at home - here they are they were cans decorated in a fall theme use the Wonderfall set and our leaf die -

 and filled with pumpkin spice puppy chow - sooooo yummy!!!  You can see more of her creative work at www.stampinking@blogspot.com.

She also had these beautiful floral arrangements on each of the tables and sent this one home with me to enjoy!! Thanks honey - for everything - the day was perfect!

Hopefully I'll do better with Christmas pictures :)
Love, Maureen

Faux Torn Edge Card

Today I want to share the beautiful Christmas card we made with the torn edge technique.  We used it a little differently here then we did on the technique card I showed yesterday.  First we stamped "Believe" from the "Snowflake Soiree" set with Night of Navy at the bottom right, for placement.  For this card we placed two paper torn masks facing each other on the card about 2 inches apart.  Then sponged in from the masks on both sides with Not Quite Navy ink. 

After we were done sponging, but while the masks were still on we stamped the littlest snowflake from the same set in Night of Navy randomly along the sponged strips, then removed the masks - this leaves a ribbon of color with snowflakes looking like they are falling through it.

We added SU gems to any snowflakes that had a complete center showing and Voila!  Beautiful, quick, one layer Christmas card.  Hope you like it!!

Thanks for stopping by today!!  ~Maureen

Faux Torn Edge Technique

Each month the members of my current club learn a new technique - this month it was the faux torn edge.  We do a technique card to put in our binders and then have them to refer to whenever we're in the card making mood (which is just about all the time for me :). 

So for our card this month we used the technique to make the snow drifts on the picture.  First we placed the the mask on the lower drift and sponged.  Then placed another mask for the upper drift and sponged.  Then without lifting the mask we stamped the tree from "Lovely as a Tree" several times (without re-inking to get the different shades) on the upper level, removed the top mask and repeated with the second mask on, then removed that mask and stamped the last tree to the left.  It looks like different levels of snow drifts with trees at each level - how cool is that.  Stop back tomorrow to see the card we made using this technique in a different way.  Thanks, Maureen

Happy Thanksgiving

Today I am giving thanks for ALL the blessings in my life.  Family and friends who bring me unspeakable joy.  The comfort of a warm home; and plenty of clothes, food and water.  A challenging and interesting job to go to each day - and my wonderful Stampin' Up! job to help me relax and create.  Thank you God - help me to keep my eyes on You - thankful for what I have - and not worried about what I don't have!!  Enjoy your Thanksgiving with those you love - see you soon!  ~Maureen

Thank you to two wonderful hostesses

I am soooo thankful for my hostesses and customers - they make it possible for me to keep my business going, and are helping me grow closer to earning my incentive trip each day!!  So my club hostesses this year are getting a framed/decorated white board for their hostess gift.  Last week we had club and I had two hostesses to thank - due to my last club I had been ill and not gotten it done on time (sorry Kathy).  So this time I went with a Fall theme.  The paper in the frame can be taken out and a picture inserted if they'd rather use it as a frame.

Each frame is very similar except for the color of the frame.  I made a big bow using the Tulle Ribbon in our Holiday catalog and added a pretty brass button threaded with linen thread to it and one at the bottom of the frame. 

This is a great gift idea - and you can do a different one to set out on your counter for different seasons of the year.  I am soooo thankful for my loyal hostesses and customers - so here is virtual THANK YOU shout out to all of you!! ~Maureen

Cute Little Gobbler!!

So I wanted to share a cute little idea you could still put together for your Thanksgiving Dinner!  This adorable little punch art turkey.  I've seen many ideas for these all over the web, but wanted to try my own little version of it - so we did these at my montly stamp club last week. 

Here the chart of what you'll need to punch from the SU Owl Builder punch to be ready to assemble your very own turkey.

Then we used the beautiful medallion from the Day of Gratitude set - we inked the stamp with More Mustard, then daubed the edges with Cajun Craze directly on the rubber stamp and then stamped on the cardstock.  Gives you such a pretty two tone image.  Then you can cut out around the edges with a scissors if you want the little peaks, or if you don't mind more rounded edges (see samples below on the wine tags) with a little vanilla cardstock showing you can cut out with the Floral Frames framelit on the Big Shot.

As you can see in the picture above we cut across the medallion taking 3 of the peaks off and then layered this behind the larger part of the medallion to give double tail feathers.  You can then attach it to a ring of cardstock for a napkin ring.

Here it is with a napkin (or a rolled paper towel :) as shown here - or,

Here it is attached to a tag that can be hung on a wine bottle or bottle of cider for a cute little hostess thank you.  The tag is cut out with the Two Tags Bigz Die and the Big Shot!  Just look at these cuties!!

Before I go today, I want to share this great tip - I've shared before but I think it's worth repeating.  If you need to punch something in a piece of cardstock that is so small that you can not see the edges to center it - try punching the punch shape out of a post-it note first (be sure to punch some of the sticky part), then attach that to the cardstock you'll be punching - exactly where you want the punch to go.

Then when you feed it into your punch you can see exactly where to punch your hole.  How great is that - perfection every time!!

Here's wishing you all a perfect Thanksgiving Day too - spend it with those you love.  Stop back soon!!!  ~Maureen

Thank you card and Online Extravaganza!!

Here's the third card we made at my cards class this month.  A generic Thank you!  I can never have enough of these.  This card was made using the Big Shot if a few different ways.  First the Daffodil layer was run through with the Fancy Fan embossing folder.  The flower from Blooming with Kindness was stamped in Pumpkin Pie on Very Vanilla, sponged with some Daffodil ink, and then cut out on the Big Shot with the Apothecary Accents Framelit - we moved the cardstock over to cut off the fancy edge on the left.  Then stamped the Thank you from the same set to the right of the flower with Early Espresso ink.  We also cut out the Pacific Point layer with the Labels Collection framelit, cut it in half and adhered it to the top and bottom of the flower layer - then popped up that entire section on dimensionsals on top of a strip of International Bazaar DSP. 

Contact me if you have questions onany of our products, or if you 'd like to join us at upcoming Stamp Camps!! Would love to have you join us!
ALSO ~

The Stampin' Up! On-Line Extravaganza, our biggest on-line promotion of the year, starts today and runs through Nov. 28. Save up to 50% on many of your favorite Stampin' Up! products. DON'T MISS today's 24 Hour Doorbuster sale items (including the Big Shot at 20% off).

Click here to for a printable product and sale price flyer.

 ~Maureen

Just 24 hours until the HOLIDAY EXTRAVAGANZA!!!

NOVEMBER 19-28, 2012

Stay tuned for Stampin Up!'s biggest online sale of the year: 

Online Extravaganza! With discounts up to 50 percent and 24-hour-only doorbusters on Monday and Wednesday, You won't want to miss it!

During these nine days only - November 19-28, 2012; you can get incredible discounts-up to 50 percent off - on some of your favorite products!

To See everything on Sale - view the PDF HERE

WOW Select stamps are 50% off!!!! Some of my Favorites!!

Door Busters: Monday, Nov. 19, midnight - 11:50 PM (MT)

 
181  #125586 Simply Scored Diagonal Plate sale $9.56
186  #113439 Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine sale  $79.96
186  #113474 Big Shot Doctor's Bag sale             $55.96

Door Busters: Wednesday, Nov. 28, midnight - 11:50 PM (MT)

7      #118941 Clear Block Bundle (Blocks A-I) sale $53.56
7      #120279 Clear Block Storage Caddy  sale      $13.56
175  #109127 Stack & Store Caddy sale                $27.96

NOTE: Even though it's called an Online sale ...you can also call (805-404-8183) or email (crazystampinglady@gmail.com) your orders directly to me also.  Orders to sent directly to you should go through my website: www.stampingwithmaureen.stampinup.net just click "Shop Now".  If you order from me orders will be put out on my porch for pick up when ready and will include a small thank you gift.  

If you want to take advantage of the Monday 11/19 or Wednesday 11/28 one-day only Door Buster sales...be sure to contact me by 5pm (pst) those days in order to ensure your order gets placed on time.

Thank you for Shopping with me!!   ~Maureen

Thanks - what a wonderful word it is!

Here's the second card we made at my last cards class - it's a great card to send for the Thanksgiving holiday, or just a thanks for some act of kindness.  The leaf is from the Wonderfall set in the holiday catalog and the verse is from Seasonal Sayings.  We layered a few strips of torn DSP, and more mustard CS that was wheeled with the woodgrain wheel. The entire layer was then sponged with More Mustard and popped up with dimensionals on the card base. 

To finish it we added a couple small brads to the side and spritzed the entire card with shimmer spritz  - made with a few drops of our Champagne Shimmer paint in one of our Stampin' Spritzers then add 3/4 full of Rubbing Alcohol and 1/4 full of water - shake well before spritzing.

This one is just natural - can you see all the sparkle?  But if you wanted color on it you could add a couple drops of any of our re-inkers to get the color spritz you want.  What a fun way to finish off a card.  See you soon.  ~Maureen

Happy Birthday FUN!

Today's card is just a fun punchy happy birthday card using several SU punches.  I've seen many similar cards like this on the internet, blogs and I think there's even one in the SU catty.  So I had to try my hand at it.  The two end hats are punched out of Summer Smooches DSP (that is really a GREAT party pattern) with the Petite Pennant Builder punch, and the middle one is stamped with Pacific Point and the Pennant Parade set.  Instead of having them hanging down like a pennant, you just flip them up the other way and Voila' - party hats!

We used the Scallop Square punch to make the red bottoms of the end hats.  I just inserted the Real Red cardstock just far enough into the square to get that little scallopy border trim.  The perfect fluffy bottom for the party hats.

Then we stamped a bunch of those little starry images in red and blue and punched them with the tiny scallop circle punch from the Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack.  I found adhering them with glue dots worked best.  Finally we stamped a simple 'happy birthday' and punched it out with the ticket punch, added a gem to the top of the center hat and layered it all.  Wouldn't that be fun to receive on your special day!  Bye for now!  ~Maureen

Cards and Cocktails - Noel

Here's the third card we made at Cards and Cocktails - using "En Francais" for the background.  We used linen thread for the hangers for the two beautiful ornaments.  They were stamped using "Ornament Keepsakes" in Gumball Green and Cherry Cobbler - the cut out using the framelit dies.  Then Heidi had us make the lovely "Noel" banner by folding our cardstock back and forth and securing with dimensionals.  The "Noel" is from Greetings of the Season in the Holiday mini - it is an awesome set of four verses perfect for the holidays. 

See you soon!!! ~Maureen

Sizzix Texture Boutique Bundle

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Email me with your order, or shop here online quickly and easily with any major credit card: at my SU website  And don't forget, if your order qualifies, you can choose hostess benefits, too!
But don't hesitate--this is a limited edition offer from Stampin' Up, and when the machines are gone, they're gone! So act today to get this great bundle!

Cards and Cocktails - Gratitude

Here's the second card we made at Heidi's last week - I designed this one - basing it off the one I had featured earlier in the month. It uses my fav fall set - "French Foliage", I added another torn layer, some Early Espresso leaves for more contrast. Instead of the linen thread I had used before, I used our tulle from the Holiday catalog for a bow - and then layered the "graditude" on the Decorative layer and popped it up.  Now I have to get all my Thanksgiving cards in the mail :)

Stop back tomorrow for the third card we made. ~Maureen

Happy Birthday!! from Cards and Cocktails

Last Friday night we had our monthly Cards and Cocktails at Heidi's house and here is the first card we made.  Heidi designed it and I really like it.  I usually like everything she makes - but this one even more.  Don't know why - but it just makes me smile.  I'm a clean and simple gal - but I love all the fun stuff going on here!

We used the Distressed Dot for the background of the layer.  Then we embossed the single stamp from page 44 of the SU catalog - "Beautiful Birthday" using Cherry Cobbler embossing powder - added all the adorable punches, gems and button - and Voila!!  What a fun card to make and to give!  See you soon! ~Maureen

Parks and Rec Card III

So today I'm sharing the third card we made at the last Parks and Rec class - this was my FAVORITE!!  I love butterflies - but what I really love is the gray and turquoise colors together.  After I posted this I realize this was one I did after the class - the verse we used there was "Kindness Matters" but everything else is the same.  Sorry I took a picture of the wrong one - but it shows you how versatile a card like this is - just change out the verse for what you need.

This card uses the "Kindness Matters" set.  The middle butterfly is cut out and popped up on a glue dot, and we added some pretty little pearls.  The banner strip is from the Twitterpated Designer Series paper in our big catalog and the background is embossed using the "Lacy Brocade" embossing folder from the Holiday catalog - it has a very elegant and lacy look.   The butterfly layer was cut out using one of the framelits from "Apothecary Accents."   Love this card - and I think it would be pretty in many different color combinations. 
Have a happy day!  ~Maureen

November Order Thank Yous

Here are the little thank you cards I'm putting in all my current customer orders.  I try and put in a card all the time thanking them for their business.  Each card is just a flat layer and smaller than a regular card base, so that the customer can actually attach it to the front of a base and make it into a useable card to send out to a friend.  These might look familiar as they are very similar to one of my recent Parks and Rec posts - just miniaturized. 

 Here's a close up - I really love the "French Foliage" set.

Enjoy - see you soon!! ~Maureen