Happy New Year's!!

Out with the old and in with the new -

Welcome 2015

I know already it will be a year of challenges, and exciting adventures as Paul and I retire and move on to a new chapter in our lives.  But we are so excited.  God has blessed us through the years and we trust He will continue to do so and guide us as we go.

Happy New Year to you - here's to a clean slate - 2015 - just full of possibilities!!  ~Maureen

Fun Christmas Treats

Today I just wanted to share a couple of cute and easy Christmas treats I made.  These first ones us Stampin' Up!'s cello treat bags.  I just filled them with some Christmas colored Jelly Beans - closed the top with a strip of taped DSP and added a punched tree, heart and gem.  Then on the last day of work before Christmas I took them with me and handed out - everyone LOVED and it was a nice way to say Merry Christmas!

Then I made these adorable little fry boxes to hold some amazing chocolate mints to give to my Leadership Team.  I used the SU Kraft Cardstock which is great - as it is a bit heavier than regular cardstock.  Then added the strip of DSP, treat, heart and gem.  Tied up a bag of the yummy mints and voila!

I don't know about you, but I am always looking for cute little treat ideas for neighbors, co-workers, downline, grandkids and thought these turned out great - hope you liked them too!  ~Maureen
Some of the products used -

1" X 8" Cellophane Bags

$2.50

Cellophane 4" X 6" Bags

$4.50

Kraft 12" X 12" Card Stock

$5.95

Fry Box Bigz L Die

$32.95

Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack

$16.95

Rhinestone Basic Jewels Embellishments

$4.95

Big Shot

$99.95

There's a whole lotta sharing going on...

Here are the great projects that were on our share table and our challenge cards from the December downline meeting.  Hopefully I've given all the correct credit to all of the great creators :)  Don't you just want to copy them all!!

Heidi

Lois

Sarah

Sarah

Sarah

Sarah

Sarah

Devin

Wise men still seek Him....

Wise men still seek Him.....

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

My prayer for all is that you will take the time to seek this precious, most important gift and that in turn God will bless you with the gift of salvation through belief in His son, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Here's wishing you a wonderful day full of blessings -  hopefully with those who mean the most to you - but if you are apart  - then rejoice in the place they have in your heart.  I'm so thankful for each and every one of you. ~Maureen

Final Exchange Gifts

Final day of our gift exchange - hope you like all the project ideas you saw.  So first i am sharing the packaging from Diane - this paper has been so popular-as has the ribbon.  And why not -they are beautiful.

And here is the card she made for her - using this month's Paper Pumpkin kit - with her own twist on it!

And Virginia was the recipient in our gift exchange - Diane made her this adorable little light up Christmas tree with last month's Paper Pumpkin kit and an extra decorated tealight to go with it.

And now time for an apology - here is Virginia's gift - and Heidi was the recipient.  Heidi had to leave early - so I was supposed to give the gift to her and take a picture.  Yes - I gave the gift to her - did I get a picture - nooooooo!!!  I am so sorry Virginia.  If I can get a picture next time I see her I will do so - but it was a lovely antique picture holder - just Heidi's style!

See you all soon - we'll end the gift-giving here on Christmas eve.  Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas day full of blessings.  ~Maureen

More Exchange Gifts ...

Today I'm sharing Devin's gift for the exchange - she wrapped it in this adorable box made with SU's box punch board - I love the way she added the little triangles to the bottom on the box with a stamp - and the tag is so cute.

Paula was the lucky recipient of this gift - a Starbucks gift card and that beautiful blue scarf - looks great on you Paula!

Then on to another adorable box and gift tag - these were made by Lois!

And Sarah received this gift - inside the box a beautiful Christmas train music box with little figurines inside that move to the music and a bonus lovely hand stamped and painted wine glass.

See you soon ~Maureen

Gift exchange....

Today's sharing starts with Sarah's exchange gift - look at this lovely packaging - all done with Stampin' Up products - one of my favorite cardstock that we currently offer and look at that ribbon!

Lois was the lucky recipient of this beautiful glass plate filled with homemade fudge - look so yummy!!

And one  more - this was the package from Paula - card and bow made with SU paper and look at the adorable painted snowman ornament. 

I was the luck recipient - which was awesome because I fell in love with the ornament.  Then when I opened the box - look at this amazing wreath that was inside!!   I hit the jackpot!

And here it is - proudly displayed in my home - I love it Paula!

There are a few more gifts to share with you  - so stop back soon.  ~Maureen

My exchange gift...

Today I wanted to share another one of our exchange gifts.  Diane ended up with my gift after the exchange game - and here is the Rose Tree I made. 

It's a cardboard cone covered with lots (and I mean lots) of beautiful paper roses. I was really surprised at how many it took - but it was a fun project to make.  I used some discontinued black polka dot DSP along with our current newsprint.

Here's a close up of the roses - you can see they are really packed in there.  The Stampin' Up! die really made making them a breeze though.  Everything was attached with a glue gun - so went together very quickly.

Hope you liked it.  I hope to make a few more and will share if I do.  See you soon ~ Maureen

Coffee Lovers Blog Hop Blog Candy Winner

So sorry - a cold has really had me knocked out for a days - but I need to get out the information on the winner of my blog candy -
And the winner is ....Kimberly Wiener - congratulations!!!
This glimmer paper is ALL yours :)

Thank you for stopping my blog during the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop.  My BLOG CANDY was the two packages of Stampin' Up! Glimmer Paper - so perfect for the holiday season.  Your package is going out tomorrow - enjoy!  And thank you to all who participated and commented - it was so wonderful reading all your comments.

Watch for more blog hops in the future!!! ~Maureen

Devin's Gift from Heidi

So at our downline party we did a gift exchange -  each person was asked to bring a gift and be sure something (even if it was just the card or wrap) was stamped.  Over the next few days I'll be sharing those pictures.  Here is the gift that Heidi gave - with her beautiful stamped package.

Devin ended up with the gift after our game of switching around and she seems happy with it - a beautiful handmade card and package of gift tags and some all natural body products that Heidi made.

It was also a potluck and there was some yummy food.  I forgot to take a picture at the beginning - so here is the food after we started digging in :)

See you all tomorrow!  ~Maureen

Downline Holiday Party Project - Part III

Here they are - the last four months of our calendar (check my last two posts to see the rest) -

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

Cute - huh?!? and practical - mine will be sitting on my stamping desk this year and remind me of a great time with my downline every time I look at it.  Hope you liked - let me know what you think!  ~Maureen

Downline Holiday Party Project - Part II

So here we go with the next four months from the calendar -

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

Cute huh - stop back tomorrow because we have four months to go :)  ~Maureen

Downline Holiday Party Project

Last weekend was my Annual Holiday Luncheon for my downline.  Each year I try and come up with a special project for the attendees to make.  This year I settled on this desk calendar.  I purchased the little stand up frames at a local craft store.  Printed the calendar from a free calendar site.   Then got to creating - here are the first four months we made -

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

We punched holes and added the two book rings to allow the monthly calendars to hang and flip to the back when the month ends.  Stop back over the next couple days to see the rest of the months.  This was a really fun project to create and share with the group.  ~Maureen