Want to See Something Cute???

I just had to share one of the cutest things that I've picked up lately while shopping. Yesterday, my son and I went to Lexington to get some odds and ends that we needed. While there, we checked out some of the after Christmas specials and I made one of my regular stops at the local Dollar Tree. While cruising through the aisles looking for things that I might be able to alter I spotted this:I liked the gact that this little calculator could be clipped on my purse just like a keyring. I also liked the fact that it came with face plates that I could change. My mind immediately went to the scraps of Ski Slope designer paper that I had left over from my Christmas card classes. Tonight I sat down with my Fiskars scissors and my Fiskars fingertip craft knife. Using one of the extra face plates as a pattern I cut my own face plate from one of the scraps.

Voila!, my own personalized Stampin' Up! calculator. The best thing is, I can change out the paper as my mood hits....( or as Stampin' Up! releases new papers that I LOVE!)

Something New in the Air

Another Christmas has come and gone. The kids are all playing happily with their new electronics and I took some time to clean up my scrap space. Of course, I couldn't leave the desk top clean for very long.

I just received one of the new Valentine's Day stamp sets from Stampin' Up! called "Love You Much". I really wanted to try it out and one of my favorite websites gave me the perfect inspiration. I was reading on the PageMaps Blog about their card sketch contest and I decided to try my hand at a Valentine's card.

I used 4 different colors of cardstock for the card itself: Very Vanilla, Real Red, Kraft, and Close to Cocoa. The stamp in the center of the flower came from the new "Love You Much" set. The greeting came from the "Best Yet" set, and the decorative strip was created using my "Bella's Border" wheel. I added a strip of satin ribbon from my stash and a large pink Bazzill blossom. I really like the way that the final card turned out.

You still have time to enter the Page Maps contest; it doesn't end until December 31. Check out their blog for more details. I have a link posted in my sidebar.

Retired List Plus Other News

Boy.......has Stampin' Up! been busy today!!

First of all, they posted the retiring stamps. This is the list of stamps that will no longer be available once the new catalog is released in January.

Second of all, they announced that you can purchase any of the stamps on that retiring list for a 10% discount off the regular price between today and December 23.

Lastly, they are also offering FREE SHIPPING on orders over $70 between now and December 23 also.

When you put all 3 of those things together, it provides you with a GREAT opportunity to purcahse any of the Stampin' Up stuff, but ESPECIALLY any of the things on the retiring list that might have been on your personal wish list.

In order to help you check out the retiring list I am posting an Excel spreadsheet with the regular price as well as the 10% discount price. You can find a link to the spreadsheet on the top of the right hand bar of my blog.

An Early Birthday Surprise

My birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks. Well, last night my dear sweet Hubby and daughter kept egging me on, trying to get me to open my birthday present early. I kept telling them no....I just can't. It wouldn't be right.

Today the urging from them just got to be too much. They got the camera, put the package in my lap, and practically FORCED me to open it. I know....it was kind of silly of me to not want to open it in the first place. After all, they were giving it to me.....

Anyway, to my surprise, Hubby had purchased me one of those tiny video cameras that everyone uses to film tutorials for You Tube! It came complete with the tripod, rechargeable batteries, and everything. I can't wait to learn how to use it, but I have to wait until the batteries charge themselves. I had shown him all of the videos on all of the blogs that I visit and had mentioned that I would like to try doing some.

Get ready....because once I learn how to use this thing, I hope to have tutorials on a regular basis.

BUSY.....BUSY..... BUSY

If your December is going anything like mine, then you totally understand why I haven't done a new post lately. After Thanksgiving meals with both families last week, we decided to get a weekend jump start on our shopping and actually managed to get MOST of the things we needed scratched from our shopping list. We were back to school this week, of course.

It is my intention to do some crafting, gift making, etc. this weekend, so I hope to post something then.