Wishing you...

                  Wishing my blogging friends and family,

a magnificent New Year 2011, full of wonderful surprises for all...

                 May God keep you withing His holy reach,

                 May you be safe and healthy,wanted and loved.

   May you seek great opportunities and reach all of your goals

               May your dreams soon become a reality...

May you always have Peace, Joy and Love residing in your home

    May the rainbows of  your Life be colored with happiness.

I wish you all of that and much,much more,including a better      

               World for all of our Children's future...

             ...a world full of peace...God Bless you all!... 

  

~*~love,hugs,smiles from me to you~*~
Con tanto amore

Paola


   

My last card to blog for this year: This card was created last Christmas from gifted items sent to me from a dear friend and its snowman hat's pompom was recycled from a Christmas cracker:o)

Mystery Numero Due :o)

~Hello everyone!
I hope you all had a wonderful True Season celebration with all your loved ones, and that today will find you content and relaxed, just enjoying the moment without the usual fussiness that can accompany this time of year. *Cheers!*

*you may enlarge any picture by clickking on them*

April is the wonderful hostess for round 2 of the Mystery challenge swap.
*You can find all the fine details here,posted by her:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/cards-f107/closed-~-mystery-image-challenge-card-swap-t508802.html

She sent to all of us partecipants ,wonderful (and no longer mysterious) images of Spotlight Anya from TGF. April also challenged us to use an interesting flowery tape she sent along as an extra mystery embellishment. I have never seen anything like it...This was to be used on our cards as we see fit.
I chose to use such cute tape on top of the organdy ribbon and also on the inside of the card,on opposite dual corners.

I have to confess that this is the very first Anya image I ever colored and turned into a card.

Hopefully my friendly peeps like the end results...

I would love to know what YOU think...

  

Thank You so much April,
for such great and fun challenge!
Now I'm anxious to see what kind of mysterious images our next hostess (Gael) will surprise us with...and the fun shall continue...*yup* stay tuned folks... :o)




*Card Deets:
Anya in the Spotlight (TGF)
& flowery tape -both provided by April
C/S: SU-chocolate chips; so saffron
D/P:SU- Junior Varsity
Ink: Archival Versafine -Onix Black
SU-so saffron,soft sky (used for sponging)
Chalks:Natural Set Deluxe & Pearlescent Chalks -hair spray to set it-
Accessories:Oval nesties-reg. and scalloped,SU so saffron organdy ribbon,
silk yellow flowers/leaves, sage green candy dots by Pebbles Inc. , crystal effect.

Forest's Friends




*click on any image,to enlarge*

 

FOREST FRIENDS is the theme of my superhostess friend Jeanette

-aka Forest Ranger- latest swap,recently ended.
Suggestion for the theme was to use any images displaying sweet,cute lil creatures one may find in the forest...thus the possibilities are ohh sooo endless...

I chose to use this lil sweet House Mouse image because we are now close to Christmas and I thought that perhaps he can bring some sparkly smiles and cheers to whomever may receive it. :o)





The trio above are a few extra cards I made for myself, using different DP since I finished off the original trees background that reminded me of a forest :o)

This next card was made -last year!- but sent off only recently *yikess!* to a special friend of mine who absolutly loves displaying a multitude of Christmas trees every single year.
Apparently this year she emebellished only 34 of them all over her house!! *smile*
She's such an inspiration to me, both as a card artists and spiritual leader....
This card was supposed to accompany a project
that was started with last Christmas in mind, but due to my unrealistic procastination problems, the project is still unfinished....
Definetly,I know what my new year resolution is gonna be as I welcome the new year in....*sigh*

December *D*D*D* card

*click on any pictures if you wish to enlarge*

Yippeeeeeeeee!! Ya know what day it is,right?? It's the 15th of the month,the usual 'blog-get-together'
of the triple *D*'s (Dueling Darling Dazzlers/or Divas)
See here for details,if you are a new follower and have no idea what I am talking about...LOL *wink*
http://paola-sama.blogspot.com/2010/10/its-duelling-darlings-timeo.html

The Darlings' hostess this month is my friend Terry, aka my 'wingpit sistah', a term of endearment we started to call each other due to our love for those cute Penny Black chicken stamps...lol *wink*

Terry's wonderful theme for this month is 'My Favorite Things' and she sent us a supah-kit with the cutest snowmen images from SU!,gorgeous d/p's from Imaginisce and Three Bugs in a Rug, paper snowflakes, buttons and white metal dots and two strips of ribbons...
This is my creative result....Hopefully, my peeps and all of you who may visit, like what you see :o)

I sure had lots of fun putting this card together. Truly.
One thing that Terry asked of us is to share what our favorite things are...
For me,this question it's a nobrainer...lol...everyone who knows me well enough, also know the love and passion I nurture toward my grandkiddos...well, today it was no exception...I had my sweet GDaughters visiting me at school and my handsome GSons staying with us at supper...ended up doing a bit of crafting and playing some games on my laptop too...therefore *TOGETHERNESS* is MFT!:o)
There you have it,simply from the heart...
and That's Amore for ya...:o)

Card Deets:
Aside from Terry's kit
-see notes above-
I used the following items:
Light blue and white C/S , Markers, glue dots,
Soft Sky inking pad, dimentionals, stickles, Shapeabilities (tree nestie)
Tecnique:   Distressing *Precision cutting, *Layering
                              *Fraying (ribbon)  *Sponging

Please check my other friendly Darlings Dazzlers and Divas links, provided here below:




Jeanette: http://creativeplayischeaperthantherapy.blogspot.com/                         
April                                                     
Debbie
Melina
Michelle
Paola
Terry

*******
Barb
Carol
Jamie
Joan
Judy
Kelly
Laura Jean

Penny Black wintery cards

*Click on any pictures to enlarge*

Well, I finally uploaded my cute Penny Black cards I sent to Barb for her latest PB &WS swap.
I truly love how these adorable critters turned out. My muse for this was an old blown out Christmas decorated fancy egg, ya know those you usually buy at craft fairs and that U hope it will never break?...:o) I wanted to capture a 'scene' on ice and this is the result.
A snowy dry embossed background, a lil pond (stained glass tecnique) and lots of glitter completes this
cutee-patootee PB hedgie whose name I can't remember (it was a borrowed stamp)

Oh yeah.... do you want to know what those snoflakes are made of??...well.......One day ,recently, I was helping with the fruit and veggie program at school, and removing layers of apples....well....in between each layers there was a perfect pristine rectangle of foam...
Guess what?? It's now part of my recycled items drawer.
Doesn't make nice, soft looking snowflakes??? :o)
What do YOU think?

On My very last hedgie card,below, I thought of trying to color a bit the snowy sky (inked the embossing folder)and the card below its the result...I sooo love it and wished I made them all like that....but I was NOT about to restart them over...LOL...

My next card is made by using a new PB stamp I recently purchased.

It is called 'Christmas Text' and it reminds me of my rosmary bush for some reason...:o)

I hope you can see the sparkles...I absolutly LOVE this (new to me) tecnique!

For this card I cased this idea and followed the video tutorial from this wonderful blog:

'Stained Glass' : http://www.frenchiestamps.com/2009/08/blog-post_587.html

It's a bit fiddly and messy but ohh what fun and the end result is soooo worth it to me!!

Will definetly use this tecnique again and again...:o)

Hope you like both cards...so diferent yet so unique I think...*wink*

Have a blessed Sunday...I am off to see my 5yo grandaughter's Christmas concert at the Italian  Cultural Centre in Vancouver...then doing some inking and crafting...yeahhh!!

mmm...did you notice that this card is red,white and green??

You know what that means to me,right?....of course....That's Amoreeeeeeeeee! :o)

Whipper Snapper cards` delight!

Hello friendly bloggers,
tonight I am about to upload not one, but two cards instead....
and guess what?? ...they ALL have one element in common: GLITTER!!... oh yes!! LOL

Here are my two takes on Whipper Snappers cards :
First card: these two adorable cuties
 bear-penguin pair, can melt anyone's heart...I absolutly {HEART}
Whipper Snappers stamps
They are sooo totally delightful
and  always put a smile on my face...








Stamp: WS -A Hug for Ike- *  CS-Almost Amethist  *  Ink:Archival black Onix  *  Color Chalks * black marker *
Accessories: Oval Nesties, snowflake Stampabilities , Stickles, silver cord, hair spray, snowflake brad,Crystal effect,

My second set of WS cards sport pink and blue as the main colors, with more nesties used to display such stamped image of cute as heck snowmen.
The tecniques used here are: reversed dry embossing, chalk coloring, and die cutting.

Stamp : WS- Snowmen with scarves-

            

What do you think...

Adorable trio of snowpeople, eh! :o)

Both these sets of cards were sent for the WS swap hosted by Barb...
I have  a feeling she may like them!| :o)
Be sure to check back here tomorrow, as I will post the two Penny Black cards`
set I made for the same hostess.:o)
Sweet dreams ya alllllllllllll... *hugZ*
Paola

Faith card for the 'Reason'



*Click on any images to enlarge*

 Wow...Talking about entering a challenge on the 11th hour!! :o)
I really wanted to make a new card for the recent 'Jesus is the Reason' hop ,
but time was against me and didn't get to show a new card then.
Well, I hope I reedemed myself by finally making a new Faith card,  in fact it's just out of the 'press' so-to-speak...most likely the stickles are still wet!  LOL

I intend to link it to my dear friend Catherine's 'Reason' challenge.
See her fantastic blog and what's all about,here:
http://paperaddictcatherine.blogspot.com/


I liked the distressed look ,and the end results,but most of all I love what this card truly represents: The Birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ!

Card Deets:
*Stamp: Rejoicing in Christmas by SU!
*Stamp: To You and Yours by SU! (dove)
*Card Stock: Marina Mist,Pear Pizzaz, by SU!
*D/P:The Merry Days of Christmas :"Evergreen Dots"
by My Mind's Eyes
*DP:"Green at Heart" by Basic Grey 
*Accessories: Gold Embossing Power:,Stickles, Oval Nesties,
Stars Nesties, Gold Thread,Buttons,DImentionals,Versamark,
Archival Black ink,Colored chalks,Markers
*Tecnique: wet embossing, layering,chalking,distressing
*Card size: 5.5 x 5.5





*Thanks for visiting and God's Bless!!* 

Ta-da-daaaaa! We have a winner!:o)

This is Michela, the youngest of my four grandchildren (2.5 years old)
She did a great job being my lil helper in selecting today's winner  :o)

Hi everyone! Sorry that I'm a day late in posting the winner of my blog-candy from the recent hop : 'Jesus is the REASON'....truth is none of my four grandchildren were around yesterday to pick out a name from all of the partecipants...but today I saw my grandaughters and had the youngest one helping out with this pleasant task....

As I stated in my previous post,
I have no idea how to use the number generator....(YES I am VERY techno-challenged! lol)therefore a lil hand 'labour' was involved here as you can clearly see...:o) 

 Here's Michela stirring and mixing the bowl full of names and ready to pick one...stir.....stir up some more... and??

WANNA KNOW WHOM SHE PICKED???

                            

Little Michela picked *Meera* as my first evah blog candy winner!! :o)

Meera please get in touch with me in order to receive your blog-candy at

 allegra@shaw.ca

Please add 'blog candy' in mail subject. Thanks!

May I remind you that U must be a follower to this blog, and that you have

 until Wed. December 8th to claim this winning. :o)

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO PARTECIPATED IN THE HOP! GOD BLESS!!

ALSO...YOU ALL still have a great chance to win more beautiful prizes-including a set of spellbinders dies- until Dec 8th, by checking Catherine's blog  (Paper Addict) .

Here's her link you don't want to miss:  http://paperaddictcatherine.blogspot.com/

   *HugZ*   

~* Paola*~

"Jesus Is The Reason For The Season!!!"

Welcome my dear Friends and Followers!

I feel very blessed to be asked by my dear friend Catherine (aka Paper Addict), to partecipate on this {special-to-my-heart} blog hop. And my very FIRST hop evah at that!:o)
So pleazzz be forgiving as I am still VERY green as a blogger and definetly techno-challenged too!lol :o)

Reason for this Hop:We are a small band of blogging crafters who love God and are very delighted to have you here and helping us celebrating the impending Good News of our Savior's birth! In the midst of all the seasonal festivies, we wanted to take some time aside just to focus on the real meaning of Christmas: the birth of Jesus Christ.  Of course there's nothing wrong with hustling and bustling about to find the "perfect gifts" for our loved ones, but when you stop to think about it, there will never be a gift more perfect than the gift God gave us in Jesus.

*Praise God,our Lord and Salvation*

And now,on with the details...

First of all, I'd like to extend a big "thank you" to our sponsors, please check out

the beautiful prizes each has donated toward this Special Hop

They are as follows:

Fresh Brewed Designs:  4 Christmas/Faith digital images plus 2 of winner's choice
Simply Betty Stamps:  Jude & His Shenanigans Crew Christmas Collection (6 digital images)
The Stamping Boutique:  2 Faith digital images plus 4 images of winner's choice

3 winners will be chosen (one for each store prize above) from comments on select blogs, but it is a secret as to which blogs the winning comments will be chosen from.

In addition, to those wonderful prizes , I'd like to offer
my first lil-blog candy, as seen below:

The guidelines for  winning are very simple and as specified here:

  You MUST be a follower of this blog AND I also respectfully request - on the honour system -that you'll send ONE card to anyone in your life that could use a lift and a smile. You'll be surprised how a simple gesture could mean so much to someone! Probably more than you ever know...Also, since I have NO clue on how to use a 'number generator', I will put the names of all potential partecipants in a hat, and one of my grandchildren will draw the one winner

from there :o) I will post the winner's name here on my blog, by Saturday Dec4.
Please make sure to check back and see if it's YOU who won:o)
And now, let the FUN begin....it's HOP-PING time! Yesss! :o)

Here's the hop order :

Heather   http://joemamainks.blogspot.com/ {Beginning}
Kadie  http://mymindseyecreations.blogspot.com/

Karen  http://krbskorner.blogspot.com/

Kelly  http://sandcastlestamper.blogspot.com/

Lori  http://mycomfortcottage.blogspot.com/

Lorie  http://thethinkinspot.blogspot.com/

Maria  http://joyfulstamper.blogspot.com/

Paola  http://paola-sama.blogspot.com/   *<<<<<YOU are HERE!

Sammi  http://stuffbysammi.blogspot.com/

Stacy  http://impressionsofaribbonaddict.blogspot.com/

Susan  http://pinkflannelpajamas.blogspot.com/

Catherine  http://paperaddictcatherine.blogspot.com   {the-end}

Have FUN...and keep GOD close to your heart...always!

*May you have the gift of Hope,

the blessings of Peace,

and the Wonder of His Love

at Christmas and always*
*********************************************

 ~*~ CHRIST-mas cheers and blessings to ya all! ~*~

************************************************

I must apologize for entering a card I already made last year...

 Unfortunatly time is at a premium lately and,even though

I tought I could provide something fresh and new I had to

concede, at the last minute,with what I already had instead ...

Hopefully you don't mind it ,and IF I have the chance,

I will make a 'fresh one' before the hop is over...."IF"....

*Thank you!*

Paola

Friends,Fun,Food & GLITTER!!! :o)

Well, this is my second attempt at posting today...I suppose my previous effort disappered in a puff of smoke...
Dislike it very much when that happens! *sigh*

Yesterday,I hosted a 'Christmas Stack-a-Thon at my house for a few friends with a creative mind who wanted to spend a few hours together  to create some fun, christmasey

 glittery cards, presented to us by Jacquie, my 'card Lady'.

I find it easier to pay my dues like anyone else ,and have someone else direct the creative day so that I too can partecipate and relax in a sea of glitter and blings:o)

We each made 12 cards *two of each of six designs*

My cards are a wee bit tweaked from the original version that Jacquie brought for us to case....I seem to want to add a bit of my own personality and ,in this case, a LOT of ....

guess what element...

*G*L*I*T*T*E*R* of course!!!! :o)

Of course there are some BLINGS too!!

Those too were added elements I couldn't do without....lol

Each picture can be enlarged for better viewing...Unfortunatly the photos are not the best,as they were taken late at night...*sigh* Lots more photos of the fun day with my local peeps...Good company,great potluck food (my hubby even made us home made creamed vegetables soup..yummoss!) The awesome huge chocolate cake you see is DA bomb!!! My friend Shelley makes it for me every year at about this time...*she's the one w/icing up her nose!! LOLOLOL* Yup,we're a bunch of goofballs...did I forget to mention that??? *grinnnnnnnnnnnnnnn*:o)  BTW:PLEASE DO NOT FORGET that this blog FIRST hop will start on Dec 1-3!!Tell your friendssssssss...*JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!!*Thanks for visiting and blessings to you!

Oh my!! I am ADDICTED to these yummiliscious treats too!I beg my friend Kathy to make them all the time now!:o)