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)

                

SOTC~~~November~~~~

This Month's theme for the Sisterhood Of the Travelling Cards (aka SOTC)

is hosted by Debbie (meredithangelmom)

Her main request is to make cards with snowman as the main image.

I recently purchase a couple more Whipper Snappers stamps, and this is the one I decided to use for

this month's swap.What do YOU think? Isn't this image just adorable? :o)

I also found out that Debbie collects snowmen...*wow..How COOL is that?!*

If you know me well, then you must know also how much I love sparkling cards, 

therefore I HAD to add some glitter to this one....it just 'screamed'  for some...*lol*

***What do YOU think? Your comments are important to me....***

Thanks for stopping by and visit....:o)



*Pleezzzz click on ANY image to enlarge each photo*



Card Deets:

Stamps : 'Mini Me's Peeps' by Whipper Snapper , SU:Small Script /Card stock: Real Red, Pacific Point ,White /

Designer Paper: 'Arctic Star' by Reminisce / Ink: Versafine Archival Onix Black,SU Markers, Coloring Chalks /

Accessories: Nesties, punches, EF 'Snow Dots', 5/8 grosgrain Pacif.Point ribbon, gems, glitter, hairspray, dimentionals, gluedots.

*Dueling Darlings* ~~November Edition~~

*Click on any pictures if you wish to enlarge*

Yeahhh! It's THAT time of the month again! :o)
Each month, and on the 15th day to be exact, we Dueling Dazzlers 'battle' with the Dueling Divas 
to compare ideas, learn new tecniques, and creating DARLINGS' cards together .
If you're new to my blog and like to read more details about what it's all about, please check the link to the post *see below*...you won't be disappointed :o)
http://paola-sama.blogspot.com/2010/10/its-duelling-darlings-timeo.html

This month  darlin hostess is Michelle aka 'General'. She provided us DAZZLERS with an awesome kit, featuring a 'Thanksgiving' theme which holiday is just around the corner for my American friends. (November ,in fact, is the celebratory month for Thanksgiving Day in the States,
while we Canadian neighbours celebrated the same holiday last October)

In her kit,Michelle included LOTS of wonderful items and I enjoyed using them all to create my card.
Txs Michelle:o)

Michelle also asked us to mention on our blog what is it that we are grateful for...
Well, I am grateful for soooo much in my life, but I  will promise ya all that I will try to refrain myself from writing an essay...LOL

I am very grateful for the little things in everyday life....may it be a colorful rainbow after the rain,waking up hearing the birds sing, the first rose my  husband picks from our garden just for me....
I am grateful for the amazing grandchildren God gifted me with...their laughter and happiness
make me joyful and hopeful for the future...
I am grateful for family and friends....it's nice to know there are people out there who love me for who I am *faults and all*, that show that they care and do not take me for granted...
Last but absolutly not least, I am mostly grateful for our loving God,
the Master of the Universe and All, without whom I am nothing....

but, with Him besides me my heart sings...*ALLELUJA!*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeuKqAV9SI8&feature=related


~~~~~~~~~~~~*Have a *THANKFUL day!!*~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DEETS

Michelle's kit included the following:

Image: DRS Designs

Cardstock: Neenah Solar Crest white

Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black

DP: The pumpkin and vine byGraphic 45,;Polka dot by Making Memories

Ribbon and Hemp: Michaels

Buttons: Creatology

Leaves: Recollections (Boutique Fleur Mulberry paper)

 I  also used the following for my 5.5"square card:

*Close to Cocoa & More Mustard c/s

*Photo Corner punch

*Dimentionals

*Pearlized Glimmer Mist (applied to colored images w/Q-tip)

*Acid Free Deluxe Color Chalks

*TECNIQUE: Piercing,Layering,Chalking

Pleezzz check out at what the other  Darlings created

Dueling Darling Dazzlers:

JEANETTE http://creativeplayischeaperthantherapy.blogspot.com/

April

Debbie
Melina
Michelle
Paola
Terry

Dueling Darling Diva :

Barb
Carol
Jamie
Joan
Judy
Kelly
LJ
~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Thank YOU for visiting...please DO come again:o)
~~~~Paola~~~~

 

It's All About ATTITUDE!!!

Oh my goodness! I have been tagged! :o)
My  friend Catherine presented me with a blog *ATTITUDE* award...eheheh
check her awesome blog here:  http://paperaddictcatherine.blogspot.com/
hummm...wondering if she knows me better than I even know myself...LOL *wink-wink*
                                         **Thanks Cat!** :o)

I'd like to recognize other blogger friends of mine with some 'Attitude' of their own...may that
be funny, caring,cheery, aggressive,spunky, all of the above, etc...make it anything your heart desires...
Ultimatly we ALL have a very creative attitude toward this wonderful 'paper hobby' of ours :o)
My 5 choices for this AWARD are the following wonderful gals :

April :  http://aprilsalley.blogspot.com/

Carol : http://lostinmycraftroom.blogspot.com/

Terry : http://itstotallyterry.blogspot.com/

Imke : http://craftingcreationsbyimke.blogspot.com/

Viv :    http://pinklovelyladylumps.blogspot.com/

Part of the fun is that each recipient MUST share 3 unknown (or little known) facts about herself.

Here are mine: 

*1* I THINK I'm a hoarder....and in deep need of decluttering my garage, crawl space etc....

heck, the whole household for that matter! *sigh* LOL
*2* I tend to buy presents for friends and family and then forget to mail away or  to give them :o(

(ditto with writing cards or letters.....ie:I recently found about a dozen of postcards written while in PV,Mexico, about  twelve years ago and never mailed!Same with a couple of Graduations cards ,written 4 years ago- and Sympathy cards,written 7 years ago...)

Presently I still have a couple presents to mail off....and I am ONLY eight months late!!

Yikesss!...Yup I am a forgetful-NUT-case alright! LOL *3* I like Languages,speak fluently both in Italian and English, some French and Spanish and ,recently ,re-brushing my ESL sign language skills.

*Here you have it folks!*....whach ya gonna do about it uh?!  Feel free to pass it on!...*wink*

*hugzzzzzz to ya allllllllllll*

~Paola~

First Christmas Card for 2010

* ALL pictures can be enlarged by clikking on each one *

Well, well, well my friends...

do you know that there are now LESS than fifty days 'till Christmas?

Holeee makerel, I can hardly believe it!!

Time sure flies faster and faster each season....or so it seems...

What I have for you today, is my very first Christmas card of this year,

and it was actually totally unplanned on my part... :o)

It is the free 'make and take' of the week, at the demo bar of one of my favorite stamping stores where I absolutley HAD to stop on my way home. Did YOU notice the trio of colors on the cards? Green,White & Red...you DO know what that means to me...right?

Well, of course...That's Amore! (Italian flag) *wink & smile* :o)

This is the store original version of the card, isnt' pretty? It is a CAS card = Clean And Simple . I have no clue what the stamp is or the name of the beautiful glittery deep red and white snowflaked designer paper. Nor do I know the product I used to color the pretty cardinal,but I know that I am now HOOKED on this new product too! To describe it, it looks like nail polish and comes in similar small containers as well. It is soooo easy to apply and leaves a beautiful smooth, satiny finish to the previously stamped and clear embossed image. Definetly want to add this mistery product to my Christmas wish list! :o)

Next, on the right, is the same card as above but with my own added touch. Not much, as you noticed, just the addition of a thin strip of satiny deep red ribbon and matching tiny bow, plus I added dimentionals too, to pop up the pretty oval image...that's it!   What can I say?    I just LUV ribbons! :o)

Here below you can see a closeup of both cards, flat vs raised...such a crafting dilemma! LOL

Can you see the beautiful sheen to the colored image too?

Ohhhh and I almost forgot to mention too that ,somehow, some of the wonderful stamps from

the store 'fell' into my basket and I just had to 'force' myself to give 'them' a new home...*see below* :o)

Ohhh, we passionate stampers must make such difficult 'sacrifices' from time to time...LOL

Of course ,the fact that it was 'buy one at reg price and the second one at 50% off ' -kind-a-deal-

 really sweetened the pot....oopss I mean my wallet! LOL                 

        ~*~Have a wonderful Sunday ya all!~*~

From left to right: 2 Penny Black, 2 Mo Manning, 1Whipper Snapper, 1set Clear Art Stamps.

Sympathy Cards

*cards measure 5.5 inches square* click on any one for a larger view*

There are times in life when, unfortunatly, most of us need to make cards for very sad occasions,

 such as the loss of someone we love, or someone dear to others we care and respect.

Tonight I had to make a couple of such cards: one is for a male friend of ours whose brother passed away overseas a few days ago, and the second card is for the mother of my newly assigned student , whose father passed a way last week-end.

I chose to make both sympathy cards very similar in colors's scheme and using same sets of stamps as well, yet  different images, at least on the front of these cards.The result is different yet similar, more masculine the darker card, and more feminine the lighter one. Clean and simple cards for such somber occasions. Thank you for visiting and for checking out  my 'shades of blue' .

Deets: Card Stock: all stock is from SU!- different shades of blues-Ink: Versamark Embossing powder: white e/p, navy e/pStamps: Thoughts and Prayers (SU) & Cornish Heritage Farm (cross)Accessories: MS punches, SU corner punch, Kaiser pearls,large 'diamond' brad, glue dots, silver dots sparkles (center of flowers), 3/8 organdy white ribbon, 3/8 organdy navy ribbon