I LOVE this idea…  it was a make-n-take at Spark from the girls at Dear Lizzie.  I quickly fell in love!

(ssshhhh… just don’t tell my work Secret Santa person I made this – we reveal at lunch today… guessing he doesn’t read my blog, so I should be okay…)

They are super easy to make – you just take some stuff – in this case, a couple of types of tissue paper, an old book page, and a $0.50 holiday stem and create a fun and decorative bow!  I just cinched it in the middle and wrapped it up!  It made the simple brown bag fun and pretty for a cost of next to nothing…  gotta love that. 

To get it all to stay, I glue gunned it together…  So pretty…  maybe I will make one for me, too…

There.  I said it.

I officially picked the wrong word for 2009. 

2008’s word was “change” and it was perfect.  This year I did not do so good on picking a word… here is why.

I looked at ”thrive” as a word meaning to excel, to continue to move forward, etc…  instead I got the bit about “thriving in bad conditions” which was not at all my goal for this year.  Here is where we did well…

• We thrived as a family during a move to a new town and state in the middle of winter with 3 feet of snow on the ground.
• We thrived as a family as Matt has continued to look for a job this past year.
• We thrived as a family when other members of my family were dealing with issues of all sorts.
• We thrived as a family as we struggled to figure out how to pay bills with less income.
• We thrived as a family while dealing with the loss of my grandmother.

All of these are ways that we “thrived” this year.  Just not exactly what I was looking for as I entered 2009, however. 

Now, even though it is only the 16th of December, I am looking to 2010.  A new year.  A new decade.  I am looking at what word will I kick off a whole new era with flair and style and capture all that I want the year and decade to be.  I think that I have it. 

I am going old school, kickin’ it 1985 style with my word, but I don’t care. 

On January 1, 2010 things will be changing here on my blog, and hopefully, in a lot of other ways as well.  I am making some changes and moving into some new paths and directions with my crafting, my family, and my goals in life.  I will be taking baby steps, but I really want to take my 2010 word and live it up and embrace it wholeheartedly. 

Other years I have been very serious and thoughtful about my word.  Not this time.  This time it is about this one life we have to live.  This one trip on earth that we share.  It is about embracing all that is creative, fun, enjoyable, and exciting about life and just going for it.  I love my word and I will be happy to share it on 1/1/10… 

Oh – and to kick off the new attitude a tad early, I was brave and went back to my real hair color at 10:00 pm Tuesday night…  holy cats, here we gooooooooo….

Well, the random number generator felt that #12 for the 12th day seemed appropriate, so that is what he picked…

Congrats to…

Well, here we are – day 12.  That means that days 13-15 will be spent shipping, so if you have won, keep your eyes open this week!!!  Make sure to go back through each day to see if you have won have not yet contacted me.  There are actually several of you who have not yet claimed your prize!

Now, onto day 12…  a photo book.

I am a huge fan of the cool books you can make with places like snapfish, etc…  I just never am happy with the templates or waiting to get them.  Now, all of that has been solved with Unibind’s PhotoBook Creator!  You can use their software to layout your book, create it yourself in any digital software of your choice, or you can even paper scrapbook like I did and bind it yourself…  the possibilities are endless!  To be honest, I feel like what I made last night was the first of many projects and gifts to come…

The cool thing is that the book covers are blank – a great canvas to start with.  Perfect for adding just about anything.  It is a creative trip from start to finish, cover to cover!

Yes.  I heat embossed on the over.  I took one of our background stamps and covered the 4×6 book cover with it and set the whole thing.  It worked fantastically!  (just don’t get the heat gun too close – it did alter the black cover a bit, making it shiny in spots if I got too close…)

I then punched out a little bird with a Fiskars squeeze punch, grabbed some glimmer mist and added a little fun bit to the cover as well!

What is really cool about this system is that you can mix and match lengths, shapes, and sizes.  As long as it is in the binding when you set it and put it together it will work!  I was able to put in little cards as dividers and play around – it was a lot of fun!  It is also cool because you can use border punches on the ends, etc… for more fun looks.  I really feel like this is about as basic as you can be and cannot wait to play more with the whole thing!

This is another cover I did – this time a horizontal 8 1/2 x 11…  these have a photo window on them, so I had fun with it as well!

I again heat embossed the cover with some Fiskars stamps and also added an entire border made with the Fiskars scalloped squeeze punches.  It was a lot of fun to make!

Now…  prize time… and since it is the last day, let’s make it count!

First, a Unibind PhotoBook Creator - wow!!!  Thank you Unibind!!!!  Then, to go along with it, a variety of Fiskars stamps, border punches, and squeeze punches to help you create amazing covers and pages within!!!!  Total – about $250.00 worth!!!!  Comment on this thread for your chance to win!!!!  NOW CLOSED – Winner has been announced!

Merry Christmas!!!!!!

My cute and cuddly random generator (Matt) has been tasked with 1-29…  and he says the winner is… #9

Okay, anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I am a huge fan of The Girl’s Loft kits.  It is the first kit I have ever done a monthly subscription to before – it is that good!!!  I absolutely love it and when I get the email receipt saying that the next one is coming, I must admit that I stalk my mailbox until it comes.  I call home and ask if it is here yet and when I get home and it is, I rip it open and just fall in love…

This month was no exception.  It was full of lots of buttons, beautiful papers and ribbons, and so much more.  When I got home and it was here yesterday, I had to run downstairs and make something.  The great thing about these kits is that there is enough to do more than one project.  I can usually get 3 out of a kit and still have paper left over!

Last night I did a project that leaves me with 90% of my supplies left…  so more playing today… 

This project uses the great kit, my Fiskars cordless glue gun, some wooden dividers I had left over from another project, and a Target dollar bin find – mini-trees…

Here is what I was able to create…

Needless to say I had a ton of fun playing around last night and can’t wait to play some more today…

Now, however, for the giveaway…

Anyone want to win their own Girl’s Loft kit??  Leave a comment on this post and I will pick a winner in the morning!  Good luck and a big THANK YOU to The Girl’s Loft Gals!!!  Oh, and what the heck – anyone think we should add in a Fiskars glue gun?  I do!  So the winner will get a kit and glue gun, too!!!  NOW CLOSED – winner has been announced!

We have 2 winners for today… are 10 and 2 according to the random generator…

First, the winner of a canvas necklace is

Over the past few months I have gotten more interested in jewelry making again.  I learned a great technique from Claudine Hellmuth at CHA which I did last month for FiskarsTV.  After that, Miss Margie taught me some fun stuff at Spark and now my brain is on fire with what I am starting to call Memory Charm pieces…  If you are going to wear something, why not have it be meaningful or at least something created just for you?

So, today is a twofer – 2 giveaways…  Yippee!!!

One lucky commenter will win a custom canvas charm as inspired by Claudine.  The other lucky winner will win a Memory Charm piece that I will create for them with pictures or memorabilia that they send to me!  So, leave your comments on this thread for your chance to win!  NOW CLOSED – Winners have been announced!!!

Random number generator picked #6…

Today is another one of those enabling posts…  This time from the wonderful and amazing…  Amy Tangerine!

Amy is having a huge sale today on some of her kids shirts, so we thought it only appropriate to discuss her amazing works of t-shirt art today as well.  Amy travels all over the world teaching people how to scrapbook as well as how to make unique, one-of-a-kind shirts that are absolutely adorable…  Thanks for being here today Amy!

One lucky commenter will win a t-shirt from Amy!  I will also throw in a pair of Fiskars scissors, since Amy uses them when making her creations…  A shirt and scissors – what more could you ask for?!?!?

NOW CLOSED – Winner has been announced!!!