29 Again?

Why yes, I am 29 again...have been for years now! LOL! How fantastic is that sentiment for a birthday card for any girlfriends who might be...ahem...a bit past the 29 point. Not that I would know anything about that... This is a very simple card, created ages ago and never posted, using one of my favorite Odd Bird Planet cupcake images. The cupcake has been paired with Basic Gray paper and a giant fabric flower from Stampin' Up! The charming sentiment is also Odd Bird Planet. (For a write up of the OBP product line, visit the Stamp NE blog sometime today, where they're being highlighted as one of the event sponors.) As for the answer to the "oopps, I did it again post"...you guys guessed right, it is a Britney Spears song. Now I confess, I have never listened to Britney Spears...honestly. However, years ago while flipping through the channels (I'm an obsessive channel flipper during commercials!) I stumbled upon the making of a video and it happened to be the Britney Spears video for this song. I watched for about five minutes and that darn song stuck in my head for days...it was maddening! LOL! And now that I made this post and have brought up that painful memory...the one line from the song is now stuck in my head again...Sigh... Jules and Cindy, please contact me at ksdm@comcast.net with your shipping address and I'll send you along a few goodies for playing along. :-) Enjoy!

Polly Want a Cracker

OK, this bird isn't even close to being a parrot...I mean where's the beak, the colorful feathers? Well it might not be a parrot but she might still want a cracker, no? :-) I am actually in need of a few cards this week...one for my SIL, who we're sending a very belated Christmas present to and a second for a friend whose husband is very ill. This card is for my friend, just to let her know that we're thinking and praying for them. Admittedly, the idea for this card came from my Stampin' Up! catalog (insert sheepish grin). The idea that I cased was the branch with the green bird, which I really loved. For some reason I've gotten my mind stuck on the idea that the silhouette birds, from Papertreyink, have to always be black. I loved that the green ink on the bird matched the cardstock. Gee, who would have guessed silhouettes look good in other colors too! ;-) The patterned paper, cardstock, and ribbon are all from Stampin' Up! and all of the images, including the sentiment, are from Papertreyink. If you click on the picture it will enlarge and you can see some of the details a bit better. Enjoy!

Oopps, I Did it Again

I again missed posting this yesterday, under the "Keep it Simple Sunday" heading! I was doing some work on my PC and my battery went ka-put. Since I was so snug under a warm blanket downstairs, a floor away from my charging cord, I opted for closing my laptop and staying warm instead of going upstairs to post! Bad blogger...hee hee This is a small 4x4" card that I created to enclose with some blog candy. A little note to say "hello" to my winner and thank them for visiting my blog. The waves were created by overlapping two pieces of scalloped paper. My boat full of wee gnomes fit perfectly in between the two waves. I'm in love with these gnome images from Odd Bird Planet...they are far too cute!! The cloud is also from OBP. Paper and ribbon are from Stampin' Up! So...ready for a contest? Who can tell me what song my blog post title is from? I shudder to admit that I even know the song but it was the first thing that popped in my head when I started to post this morning. ;-) Give me the right answer and I'll send you some goodies that I've come across as I've been organizing out my craft room...You have until midnight (EST) tomorrow to answer. Enjoy!!

My Favorite Set

Every once in awhile Stampin' Up! comes out with a set that rocks my world...I love all of their products but this set, Always, has that little something extra. I adore the bird and heart, the flowers and swirls (those are, of course, my two favorite stamp elements of all time), the sweet sentiments, and a wee berry branch, shown stamped in the background, are a few of the images included in this set. This is a fairly simple card design, which I created for a small class a few months ago. I love how the branch image makes fantastic background paper. And that swirly heart...yummy! This image also looks great embossed, which I did on this card. The bird works wonderfully well on cards, scrapbook pages, and could even be used as a name place card (wouldn't that be fun for a shower), or even a free standing birdie with paper clip legs...similar to what Erika did here. You can even purchase the image as wall art from SU! As for the "lacy" border of paper at the bottom of the card...I think I'll try to get a tutorial posted in the next few days to show you how to create it...super simple using a SU! punch. :-) Enjoy your weekend!

SALT Challenge - Sacrifice

This week it was my turn to set the challenge on the SALT blog and I gave the team sacrifice. Webster's defines sacrifice as the "destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else; something given up or lost." Every day people sacrifice something for the sake of something or someone else. One might sacrifice time with family for the sake of a job. Another may sacrifice much for the comfort of others or a particular religious conviction. A familiar example would be parents. Parents sacrifice their time, energy, and efforts for the sake of their children. No doubt most, if not all, parents would even sacrifice their own lives for the safety or life of their children. However, would any of us sacrifice our innocent children for the sake of a criminal? This is what God did for sinners. He allowed His perfect child, Jesus, to be scarified for the sake of His people. Isaiah 53 calls Christ, "a Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief." Verses 4-5 states, "Surely, He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed." Christ made the ultimate sacrifice, giving up His life for the lives of those He loved. A hymn recently sung in church offers wonderful praise for Christ's gift of the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life:

Once the world's Redeemer, dying, bore our sins upon the tree; On that sacrifice relaying, now I look in hope to thee. Father, take me, all forgiving, Fold me to thy loving breast; In thy love forever living, I must be forever blest.

Please feel free to share something you've created based on this week's theme of sacrifice. You may want to focus on someone who has sacrified for you; your parents, family members, or friends, all of these given to you as a blessing from God. Or perhaps you'd like to focus your effort solely on Christ's work on the cross. Whatever you prefer, please leave us a comment on the SALT blog along with a link back to your blog or gallery. It would be a tremendous blessing for you to share your work with us! Thank you for your continued support of our challenge blog. We treasure each and every comment and work! Stay tuned for news of our new design team, being announced in the next week!

I Hear the Sound of Falling Prices

Did you hear the good news? Johanna has decided to continue her Valentine's Day sale on all Limited Edition Kits! The sale includes the Fairytale kit, the Ladies Dancing kit, and the Monkey Business kit. The Limited Edition kits each contain a sheet of unmounted stamps, vintage clip art, cardstock, patterned paper, and embellishments, such as ribbon, lace, buttons, and the like. Here's a link to the kits. For inspiration, visit the Limited Edition Kit Section of the online gallery. While you're visiting the gallery, you might want to take a gander at all the other eye candy! My card was created using pieces of the Ladies Dancing kit, which is available in Vintage and Bright. The kit contains stamps of different skirts, feet, heads, hats, purses, bodies...you name it...to mix and match! It's like playing with paper dolls - too fun!! Enjoy!

Keep it Simple Sunday

Have a fun, quick and easy project to share with you tonight. This is an idea I grabbed off of the Stampin' Up! web site and demonstrated at my monthly class this past Friday evening. This is a note holder that is made out of an inexpensive 5x7" plastic photo frame. I picked up the frame at my local dollar store...how's that for inexpensive! You've probably seen these frames before, they are made out of molded plastic, all one piece, and include a small "lip" that is used to hold the frame up. Instead of sitting on top of the lip the frame has been tipped over and the lip is being used to hold up the sticky notes. See below: Finishing the decoration of the holder is a piece of cake! Cardstock, plain and patterned, has been cut to size and slid into the holder. (BTW - The delightful patterned paper is new from SU! and I adore every single piece in the pack...Will post more with this paper soon!!) I cut a piece of black cardstock to frame the note paper pad and added a chipboard flower and sentiment to the bottom of the frame, a ribbon on the top. The pen holder is created by taking a 4x4.5" piece of cardstock and scoring at every 1/4". Simply fold along the score lines to create a box. Add tape to hold it together and then tape the remaining 1/4" flap to the underside of the frame. This was a fun project and everyone enjoyed making their note taker/holder...this thing needs an official name! ;-) Easy peasy! Enjoy!