Country Roads Stamping

Another winner

As promised, today I will put up the 3rd place winner of the Christmas Card contest.  This card was done by Z. Hutson. 

Notice that she used the top note die cut and one of the texture plates for the white piece and then the striped ribbon and what everyone was impressed with - the red embossing!!! So see - simple still says a lot!  You don't have to have  a lot of time involved to make a great looking card.  Tomorrow I will put the winner up so you can see it - however, I had to block some of it so it will lose the full effect.  I do have a couple of other cards I want to share with you today -

On the Remarkables, we've recently had a challenge to use stuff that we have been hoarding - I am bad about designer paper - I like specific sheets of the packs but then some of them never get used.  So last night I had one of those "duh" moments where I realized the sheets I was saving matched one of my favorite little bird stamps - so I pulled out the dsp, added some bling to each of these cards and I actually like them both!

This uses the Stamp set - Happy together.  I love these birds - no surprise there.  The designer Paper is Tall Tales.  I used some of the larger brads for the flower centers and ofcourse the crushed curry ribbon. 

Here's another card, using the same set - only I switched out the crocheted flowers with the large brads as the center - changes the card.  Simple changes can make a big difference - I'll show you the same kind of thinking tomorrow on cards I made for two sisters using the same stamp set but different colors.

This little family looks like it is walking thru a forest of flowers!  If this was an actual little family of young birds, they would think they WERE  walking thru  a forest of flowers!  Now that I've figured out this paper matches with these birds - I'll be pulling these out quite a bit. 

Check back tomorrow to see the final winner and the two cards made with a different twist.  By the way - are you counting here - there are THREE different card ideas up here today! Wow!  I'm thinking this is overload at this point.  See you tomorrow.

Hey - It's Good to Be Back Home Again

Well, remember that old John Denver hit?  I can truly attest that it is good to be back home again!! I feel like I just unload my bags,do laundry and then re-load!!  I will ofcourse be doing the same thing again - in a week I'll head off to Leadership conference - woohoo.  Not thrilled with the travel but am thrilled to be heading to Leadership.  Now - to report from all the events of the past week -

We spent the holiday with our two daughters and their families - what a wild and crazy time - the weather was a real trip getting out of here - and then arriving in Iowa - where they had as much snow as we did and it snowed more while we were there.  Then heading back home - stopping over a day to visit with family in Chicago - where they also got snow and driving home in the blasted white stuff!  Personally, I'm ready for spring and we are only a week into Winter.  Looks like I'm probably in trouble.

First thing is to announce my Christmas card winners and show some of the cards - I will not be showing all of them because there were a lot of them and I figure everyone is tired of Christmas cards by now.  So today I'll show you  2nd place.  Why am I not showing you 3rd place first? Well, simple - I forgot to load that one and I'm not going to take the time to go scrounge around with the photos again since I was able to get on here quickly.

This is the 2nd place winner which was done by D. Sandy - My family of voters were impressed by the little red nose - go figure!  I keep quiet while they pick and choose and it is funny to hear what captivates their attention!!!  This ofcourse uses Dasher, which seems to be a favorite for everyone but me - I've seen lots of pretty cards made with this deer and I have the stamp myself - but I'm not a big fan of it - guess I lean more to the real looking deer.  However, there are lots of people who absolutely love this little fellow and that makes me pretty happy too ;)  Tomorrow I'll show you third place and then Friday I'll show you first and a few of the others.  This is truly something I enjoy and I'm afraid I missed a couple of cards this year due to the snow storm - the mail was delayed a day and I left town so there were a few cards that I normally would have included, but since the snow delayed things - I missed a couple. 

Now another picture - do you know what anticipation looks like?

This is what it looks like for sure!!!  This is Gideon, my cutie patootie grandson - on Christmas morning in anticipation of getting into all those gifts.  He was fun to watch - however, I am reminded with this picture of why I don't scrapbook much - I spent an entire week with the families and came home with 6 pictures!!! Ackkkk.  How in the world can you scrapbook with only 6 pictures?  I'm always enjoying the moment and totally forget about taking pictures. 

However, don't worry - I still have one more picture to add for the day - something from the new mini, which evidently many of you have not received yet - evidently the holiday mailings have slowed it down.  Sorry about that - have no control over the postal service.

So since you've not seen the new mini - this is a sneak of what one of the sets will be - and ofcourse, again, I did not get in on the pre-order of this because I didn't think I would like it - stupid stupid stupid.  What was I thinking?  However, I did get that embossing folder - because I knew I'd be happy with it!!!  So hang in there - this set, along with the embossing folder and the punch will all be available to order on January 5 - Yeah!!!  Ofcourse with that yeah - comes the Oh dear of the items in the Holiday mini going out.  Hate to see them go.  They've become "friends" much like the stamp set here!!! That's it for today.  Must get working and try to get back on some sort of schedule.  Thanks for stopping by here today.   

 
 

Brand new Stampin Up! Bird Punch

Well, Stampin UP! has lots of new punches coming in the new mini.  I made a card using the bird punch, while at RAD but did not purchase this one yet myself - but I will with my first Sale a Bration order!  Love this punch and it is so incredibly easy to use.

I used the birds layered up and embossed with the Sizzix for the background.  So it looks like there are birds in the "back of this bird's mind"!!!  That is also some of the new designer paper behind the bird and yes - a new punch at the top  - whew lots of new things!!! Now since I go by Wren Lady - this punch is definitely one I will be wanting to have around because it is so easy to add that bird pretty much anywhere I want it. 

Everyone should be back to the rat race and back on schedule by now - do you realize that I am almost at my one year anniversary for my blog?  CAn't believe it - I decided it would be one of my new year resolutions that I would start a blog - and it has mushroomed for me - it has been such a fun adventure for me - has definitely strained me to my limits some time - considering we have slower internet service there is no way I can do some of the stuff the more computer savy gals can do - but I'm happy with the nice and easy way this works for me!! So if you're someone who has been with me for the entire year - bless you and if you are new  - stick it out - there's bound to be something on here sometime you will like and will give you some inspiration!!! Thanks for stopping by again. 

Fox and Friends

That title sounds like a news show - but it isn't - it is a new Stamp set from Stampin Up!  This is a cute set for kids and kids at heart. 

There are several different choices of animals in this little set. I had to choose the monkey though because he was just flat out cute!  This one was one that I made at RAD so we would have lots of new stuff to post on our blogs and so glad that I did because the time before Christmas is always crazy - so it was nice not to have to work in something extra but rather pull my cards from the RAD week-end. However, I'll have to get back on track real soon!!!

Here's hoping that many of you have cleaned up from after Christmas - I know I'd love to get all the decorations down and packed away pdq so that is all taken care of - I like to leave up my snowmen and snowflakes to have around through January because everything looks so blah right after Christmas - but then at the end of January - everything comes down.  So hopefully you are getting back to normal and planning your new year's resolutions now!!!!  Thanks for popping by again! 

Christmas Eve

Well, this is it - if you don't have it done - then you probably won't get it done!! Here's hoping that each of you have a wonderful Christmas day with your families - I'll be Post Free tomorrow - you don't need to be blog hopping and I don't need to be posting.  So I'm sharing one last Christmas Card.

Have a great day with your families! and Merry Christmas!