Ringing in the new year and some resolutions

As I mentioned in the last blog on December 14th, it has been a crazy month.  I decided to take the rest of December off from blogging and worrying too much about any stamping as there was way too much stuff on my plate this year.  To share a little of the craziness of the month and the wonderfulness of family, I decided to share a  little of this month's high points before getting back into the stamping world.

First, one of the biggest events that is happening this year is my granddaughter Kira's approaching wedding.  Normally most families handle weddings in a simple fashion getting ready over the course of a year or so.  In Kira's case, we are having to do it in very short intense periods of time.  She fell in love while visiting friends in Australia and was proposed to last year at Christmastime when her fiance came to visit during his summer break.  After finished her Master's in Teaching last April and making all of the preliminary decisions regarding their wedding in July of 2015, she left for Australia to live with her fiance and his family while working at a parttime job and getting ready for permanent immigration.  In November, she and her fiance, Clinton returned for his summer break again and made all the final arrangements for their wedding including two bridal showers, Save the Date cards and Invitations.  So during the week before and after Christmas, I attended two bridal showers and had huge family gatherings for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We had eighteen for Thanksgiving dinner, twelve for Christmas Eve dinner and seventeen for Christmas brunch.  Here are some quick pics of some of the fun times.

 Getting ready for the first bridal shower held by my oldest daughter!

 The first bridal shower!

 The eight grandchildren with one significant Aussie in the center of the group!

 Christmas Brunch

In addition, three of my granddaughters have all graduated from college and started their new lives in their own homes.  When they collected their Christmas ornaments from their parents, they realized that they didn't have a Christmas tree skirt like I had made for each of their parents trees so they all decided that they wanted one made for them in their special colors for Christmas this year.  Now I do like to quilt, but making three special skirts on four weeks notice was a little more of a challenge than I had planned for, but being a good gramma, I didn't want to disappoint.  I worked everyday for most of three weeks to make it happen and that is why there was virtually no stamping done during that time.  Here are the three skirts which were finished at 11 PM on December 23rd.

 Meaghan's Red and Brown Skirt

 Kira's Red and Gold Skirt

Brooke's Blue and Green Skirt

After Christmas, I had a sneak peek class on Saturday for the new catalogs coming out on January 6, then there was another bridal shower on Sunday which was also my 51st wedding anniversary which my husband and I celebrated with happy hour at Trader Vic's.

Then there was my usual Simply Stampin' Lunch Bunch and downline Aerubbecisor dinner on Tuesday to finish out an incredibly busy month.  Kira and Clinton left for Sydney on Tuesday and life will be returning to normal for a few months.  I did lots of fun projects for the classes on Saturday and Tuesday and now I am preparing a new workshop for the seven that I have booked this month.  In addition, I will be getting ready for Leadership which will be held the end of January.  I'll be sharing lots of fun new projects from the Spring Occasions mini and our annual Saleabration.  Here is the first one from my Sneak Peek class on Saturday.

Stamps

Painted Petals

Paper

Pacific Point, Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Painted Blooms Designer Series Paper

Ink 

Pacific Point, Wild Wasabi,

Accessories

Spring Flowers Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Wild Wasabi Seam Binding

I can't post the actual items from the catalogs until they go live on January 6 since you can't order them until then, so come back and I will add the links once they are available.

Thanks for your patience even though I know you were all as busy as I was.  I'll be posting lots more in the next few days, but you will have to be a little more patient until I can show all of the stuff from the new catalogs.  Hugs, Sherron

Stampaholics Anonymous

It's been another busy week and I think it will be this way until after Christmas.  I received my new catalog order and did my last workshop of this year.  The Wild Cards stamp club was so fun.  One of the members, Barb Jewell has a gorgeous house just down the street from mine and her decorating is exquisite.  Would you believe that I forgot to take any pictures of her 14 Christmas trees and all the little cubby holes and vignettes that she has placed throughout her house.  It was an awesome workshop and the refreshments prepared by hostess, Arlene Smith were to die for. 

Today was my last Stampaholics Anonymous for 2014.  It was a little bit wild with two brand new stampers joining us and lots of my regulars.  My good friend and downline demonstrator, Jana Gann had prepared some gift tags and a fun little box for a class so I shared those with everyone.  Thanks goodness, another of my wonderful downline demonstrators, Darlene Almer was here and helped to teach the projects once she learned them.  I was very busy bringing down supplies and preparing the treats that I am known for.  Most of my stampers tell everyone that they come for the fun, friendship and food.  I prepared my world famous peanut brittle and almond roca cookies for everyone as well as had lots of great Costco cheese and crackers.  It's world famous because my soon to be grandson in law is from Australia and raves about my cooking.  Here are pics of the group and the fun tags and box everyone was able to make.

Yesterday, we drove north to Olympia, our state capitol to pick up our Grand Dog, Harley.  He was given to me about five years ago, but my daughter and her family decided that they needed a dog after their's had died of old age so they dognapped him at Christmas time that year and so I get him each year when they go on vacation.  They are at DisneyWorld for eight days so we get to keep Harley until Christmas when they will come down for dinner, brunch and presents.  Isn't he a doll.

My Shih Tzu who will be 10 years old in May is my baby, but Harley and Brandy play so well together and have such a good time, it is a joy to have him here to play for the two weeks.  They are both so cute together.

 Brandy on the left and Harley on the right.  I couldn't get them both to look at me at the same time so had to take two pics to get both of them full faced.

I have lots of other things to post and will try to get back into everyday or so.  I want to share the cards from my Swap of the Month group, plus I am getting ready for my classes the end of December plus I received the first swap for this month's Aerubbecisor swap today.  Hope your Christmas preps are going well.  I am madly sewing my Christmas projects while making Christmas cards and getting them in the mail.  More to come.  Hugs, Sherron

The last swaps

Last night was my stamp club with the Impression Obsession stampers.  We had a wonderful dinner of Lasagna, Salad, Rolls and a great Razzleberry pie.  Thanks to Theresa Ames for a yummy job of hosting.  They enjoyed the projects, but I think my projects this month are a little too complicated or they were having way too much fun.  They were here for three and a half hours. 

Before that, my granddaughter Kira and her fiance, Clinton from Australia were here finishing up their "Save the Date" cards to send out to all of the local family and friends and I worked with Kira to make the first ten cards and envelopes for her mom's Christmas cards.  More on that later.  We succeeded in getting the first ten done so it's a start.

Today, I finished the last of the deliveries from last week and paid all of my bills and had a nice lunch at Red Lobster with my husband.  I'm working on my Christmas projects which I will post after they have been given so I don't wreck any surprises.  Here are the last of the Aerubbecisor swap cards including one of the two that I did with the ingredients for making it.  It was inspired and some what cased from a card that I saw somewhere, but have no clue where.

 Holiday Home in Silver Embossing by Wendy Droke

 Seasonally Scattered in Silver Embossing by Jana Gann

 Mingle All the Way in White Embossing by Jana Gann

Christmas Bauble in Silver Embossing Powder by Sherron Karasek

Stamps

Christmas Bauble

Paper

Whisper White, Brushed Silver

Ink

Pacific Point, Silver Encore, Blendabilities-Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight

Accessories

Filigree Frame Embossing Folder, Silver Embossing Power, Silver Metallic Ribbon, Rhinestones

Tomorrow is my last stamp club for this year.  It has been a busy and fun year.  This stamp club is normally held at my house, but one of our Wild Card members is an exquisite decorator and had offered to host it at her house so we can see the 14, I think, trees which she has in each room of her home as well as little areas with incredible decorations.  I plan to take lots of photos and share them with you.  Our actual hostess is bringing what everyone calls Funeral sandwiches which are "to die for" so I will brief you on this workshop.  It promises to be fantastic.  Hugs, Sherron

More swaps and short blogs

My blogs will be short and sweet until after the holidays.  I have so many projects to complete and lots of family events.  My granddaughter Kira is here with her fiance for six weeks to finish final preps for her wedding and there are two bridal showers scheduled this month.  She has immigrated to Australia to teach and live with Clinton and his family.  She loves Australia and I am excited about the idea of traveling to visit her.  She will be back in July to celebrate her wedding here with family and friends before returning to Australia.

There are Christmas cards to make and I finally finished my annual Christmas letter today.  Yesterday was my last bazaar and I have two more stamp clubs this week and I will be free to work on just Christmas preps.  Yay!

Here are a few more of the swaps from our monthly Aerubbecisor swap.  There were some great projects and I will share the rest of them over the next several days.

 Six Sided Sampler in Cherry Cobbler Embossing Powder by Karen Ross

 Lovely as a Tree in Iridescent Ice and Silver Embossing Powder by Bobbie Hartsell

 Ornamental Pine in Black and Gold Embossing Powder by Lacey Auvigne

Merry Christmas in Iridescent Ice by Verna Almer-Tidd

Aren't these swaps wonderful?  I have such a talented group of ladies in my group.  They are so much fun to get together with.  Stay tuned for the last four and I will share some of the projects that my stamp clubs are making later this week.  Hugs. Sherron

Crazy week and fun swaps

It has been a non-stop week since Thanksgiving.  Finishing up swaps and getting them sorted, wrapped anddelivered was the big challenge at the end of the week.  Since then I have been on the road doing workshops, picking up orders in Rainier and getting them delivered, and attending our big Occasions and Saleabration catalog previews in Clackamas, Oregon.  The drive was not fun and the weather was cold and blustery, but we loved the new catalogs (mine are all multi flagged with all the pages of stuff that I have to have) and had such a fun time afterward sharing a dinner at the Clackamas Town Center.  Here is a pic of the seven of us from this area who attended the premier.  I can't wait to share it with you all.  You should be getting yours in the mail soon if you are one of my regular stampers.  If not, let me know and I can get one to you.

I've been promising to share the great swaps that my downline did for the month of November.  The theme was wet embossing, using our wonderful assortment of great embossing powders.  We had some great cards.  There were eleven total and two of us each did two to make sure no one got one of their own back.  Here are several of the projects including one that I did and the supplies that I used to make it.  I'll post more, hopefully tomorrow if my day doesn't get away from me again.  I have several ladies coming to make up classes and learn missed techniques so we will see how the day goes.

 

Christmas Bliss, Festival of Trees, and Endless Wishes in Silver and Irridescent Ice Embossing Powder by Wileen Davidson.

 Lovely as a Tree in White Embossing Powder by Darlene Almer.

Making Spirits Bright in Calypso Coral Embossing Powder by Sherron Karasek.

Stamps

Making Spirits Bright

Paper

Calypso Coral, Garden Green, Gold Soiree Specialty Designer Series Paper

Ink 

Versamark

Accessories

Calypso Coral Embossing Powder, Calypso Coral Seam Binding, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter

 I hope you are not as frantic as I have been this week and that your holiday preps are going well.  I'm hoping to slow down a little this weekend with only two workshops left to go next week.  I have lots of projects to complete before Christmas and hope to start on my own Christmas cards tomorrow.  Hugs, Sherron.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I am sharing my 70th birthday with my wonderful family.  My birthday always falls in Thanksgiving week, but when it falls on a Thursday, it is always on Thanksgiving.  This year is a special year as it is really the last time that all of us will be together.  My second granddaughter, Kira graduated from the University of Washington a year and a half ago and while she was getting her Psychology and Sociology degrees she traveled to Australia to visit friends that she had met during the Bejing Olympics when she had danced with the Northwest Dance troupe.  She did a semester at the University of Sydney and continued to visit with friends falling in love with an Aussie, Clinton Lough.  Last year he came to visit for his summer break and asked her to marry him.  She said yes.  After spending a year getting her teaching Masters, she immigrated to Australia in June and has been working on a temporary visa.  They are both here for his summer break and we are enjoying all of the preparations for their wedding next July.  All of my children, three daughters and their husbands and my eight grandchildren are spending this Thanksgiving with Kira and Clinton to celebrate the last Thanksgiving that we can expect to have everyone together.  It just happened to fall on my 70th birthday.  What a blessing.  I love my family and can hardly believe that I have had them all with me for the past 51 holiday seasons.  All good things must come to an end.  I foresee some trips to Australia in my future.

Here is the last of the Lunch Bunch cards. This is another one that I cased from some fabulous demonstrator, but I lost the sticky note telling me who.   Hope you have enjoyed these fun projects.  Stay tuned for the Aerubbecisor swaps coming up and the cards that I am doing for my stamp clubs in the next two weeks.

Stamps

Cheerful Christmas

Paper

Night of Navy, Soft Sky, Lost Lagoon, Whisper White

Ink

Lost Lagoon, Encore Silver, Night of Navy Blendabilities

Accessories

Silver Embossing Powder, Basic Pearls, Project Life Corner Rounder

I hope you all are having a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with your family and friends.  If all is going well, my Seahawks are beating the San Francisco 49ers and it is wonderful Thanksgiving Celebration. Hugs Sherron

Another Lunch Bunch card.

Today was such a nice relaxing day.  I spent some time working on the last of my Flower of the Month quilts that I bought at least seven years ago.  I have been working to complete them all and am now on my last quilt.  December is Narcissus and is such a pretty quilt.  When I finish it later this week I will post the picture of it.  I am so excited to be done with all twelve of them and to start on my Christmas projects.  More on that later.

Here is another of the Lunch Bunch cards. This was designed by Dawn Olchefske and is one of the wonderful sets in the little holiday supplement.  It is such a simple pretty card.  It is one of those cards that makes me happy just looking at it.  Here in the great Northwet we love to look at the snow on our spectacular mountains and prefer that is where it stays.

 I have just one more to share and then I have to finish my monthly swap so I can share all of those.

Stamps

Project Life December Wonder

Paper

Whisper White, Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar, Champagne Glimmer Paper

Ink

Baked Brown Sugar, Coastal Cabana, Coastal Cabana Blendabilities

Accessories

Snowflake Card Thinlits Die, Pearls Basics Jewels

Tomorrow I will share the last of the Lunch Bunch cards and start thinking about the swap cards for embossing plus share my Swap of the Month cards that a group of us have been doing for the past 18 years.

Hugs, Sherron

Another cased lunch bunch card

We spent a busy day today running errands and doing our twice a month Costco shopping trip.  My husband took me birthday shopping for a pretty garnet ring as he knows how much I love the different rings that I wear to coordinate colors with my clothes.  I had been looking for a red stone or a black one and he found the perfect red.  Then there was a little Christmas shopping thrown in for good measure and we had an early birthday dinner out at Joe's Crab Shack on the Columbia River.  It was a tiring but fun day.

Here is another of the cards from yesterday's lunch bunch class.  This one was cased from Kelly Acheson.  I loved the cherry cobbler and crumb cake combination.  It would make a great Valentine, Anniversary or Wedding card.  It was a favorite for both my customers and downline.

Stamps

World of Dreams, Seasonally Scattered

Paper

Crumb Cake,Very Vanilla, Red Glimmer Paper

Ink

Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Cherry Cobbler Marker

Accessories

Decorative Dots Embossing Folder, Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack, Cherry Cobbler 1" Linen Ribbon, Stampin' Sponges

Tomorrow I have to finish my group swap cards so that I can share those with you .  There were some great ones this month.  I'll post another lunch bunch card and a final one on Thursday before we hit the football and food.  Hugs, Sherron

Holiday extravaganza and Simply Stampin' projects

Today is the start of our annual Online Extravaganza with doorbuster deals until 11 PM tonight and lots of wonderful supplies from 20 to 50% off for the next week.  There will be more fantastic doorbusters next Monday.  Check out all of the great bargains on my Stampin' Up! website.  Just click on the presents above.

It was a fun day with my Simply Stampin' Lunch Bunch this afternoon and my Aerubbecisors demonstrator group for dinner tonight.  I had Taco Soup for both groups.  The ladies brought wonderful salads and breads for lunch and I served tossed salad, bread and Turtle Cake for the ladies tonight.  Everyone liked the projects and had fun making them.  I shared the first one yesterday so here is the second one and I'll post the other three in the next several days.  Hope you enjoy them.  Several were cased from other demonstrators, but yesterdays and todays were my own design.  I can't believe I am actually getting creative in my old age.

Stamps

Wondrous Wreath (available as a bundle), Four You

Paper

Pacific Point, Brushed Silver, Whisper White

Ink

Pacific Point, Cherry Cobbler, Encore Silver

Accessories

Wonderful Wreath Framelits, All is Calm Snowflake Embellishments,1/8" Silver Ribbon, White Baker's Twine

I'll have the other three projects to share this week so make sure and check back and see what you do could be making if you were to join my group.  Hugs,

Ready for Simply Stampin' Lunch Bunch

Yesterday was a great Gifts for the Giving class.  I had so much fun with the ladies who came to play.  The Tile Coaster class was the big hit with several getting into making stars.  There was little time to do the 12 days of Christmas so at least one lady will be back to do them later this week. 

I spent today getting caught up on other chores and finishing up the Simply Stampin' Lunch Bunch projects.  Here are some pics of yesterday's event and the first of the Lunch Bunch projects.

Stamps

You're Wonderful

Paper

Night of Navy, Whisper White, All is Calm Designer Series Paper

Ink

Night of Navy, Tuxedo Black Memento, Night of Navy and Old Olive Blendabilities

Accessories

Mini Metallic Clothespins

I'll have more pictures of the Lunch Bunch and my Aerubbecisor Downline dinner tomorrow night.  This month's embossing swap is due on Tuesday so I hope I will have lots of fun projects to share from it too.

Hugs, Sherron

Tomorrow's the Day

I'm all ready for the Gifts for the Giving class.  The tables are set up and I'm ready to roll.  Here are the last three projects for the 12 days of Christmas class.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me........10 Starbuck dollars.

 Stamps

12 Days of Christmas

Paper

Cherry Cobbler,Whisper White, Garden Green, Trim the Tree Designer Series Paper Stack

Ink

Cherry Cobbler

Accessories

Scalloped Tag Topper Punch, Tree Punch, Decorative Label Punch, Cherry Cobbler Sheer Linen Ribbon

 On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me.......eleven Christmas gift tags.

 Stamps

12 Days of Christmas,  Holiday Cheer, Merry Everything, December Wonder

Paper

Whisper White

Ink

Real Red, Garden Green, Night of Navy

Accessories

Scallop Tag Topper Punch, Angled Tag Topper Punch, Note Tag Punch

 On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me......twelve hugs and kisses.

Stamps

12 Days of Christmas, Itty Bitty Banners

Paper

Natural Cream

Ink

Midnight Muse (retired)

Accessories

Decorative Window Gift Boxes, Gift Bow Bigz L Die, Bitty Banners Framelits, 1/2" Circle Punch,

Midnight Muse Stitched Ribbon (retired)

I hope you have enjoyed my 12 Days of Christmas gifts.  I think this may become a favorite tradition to start.  It was so fun to figure out all of the different things that would be interesting to receive for Christmas that are part of papercrafting.  So much better than all of those birds and people.  Hugs, Sherron

Days 7 through 9 of the 12 Days of Christmas

Finally got all of my Days completed.  I was pretty excited about the whole series so we will see how everyone likes them on Saturday.  Here are days 7, 8 and 9.  I'll post the final three tomorrow.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me........seven Christmas Stickers!

Stamps

12 Days of Christmas

Paper

Garden Green, Whisper White, Real Red, Nordic Noel Designer Series Paper

Ink 

Real Red

Accessories

Gift Card Envelope and Trims Thinlits Dies, 1/2" circle punch, Whisper White Baker's Twine, 1/8" Mini Brads

 On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me.......eight pretty tealights!

Stamps

12 Days of Christmas, Age Awareness

Paper 

Whisper White, Park Lane Designer Series Paper

Ink

Blackberry Bliss

Accessories

Kraft Gift Boxes, Stampin' Sponges, 3/8" Blackberry Bliss Stitched Satin Ribbon

 On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...........nine Santa brooms for the elves to use!

Stamps

12 Days of Christmas 

Paper

Real Red, Whisper White

Ink

Real Red

Accessories

1" by 8" cello bags, Real Red 3/8" Satin Ribbon, 1 3/4" scallop circle punch, 7/8" scallop circle punch

Two Tags Die-retired, Coffee Filters and Red Licorice.

It's been lots of fun coming up with my own interpretation of the 12 Days of Christmas song.  I was excited to have Stampin' Up! come out with this stamp set in their holiday supplement.  I've really used a bunch of stuff from this little brochure when I didn't think I really needed anything from it.  Hope you are enjoying my little creations.  Wait until you see the ending days.  I'll show you what's inside some of these on Saturday after my stampers get to make them.  Didn't want to spoil all of the surprises for them  Hugs, Sherron

12 Days of Christmas continued

After two days spent delivering orders and getting ready for my class, there was no way I was up to blogging last night.  I finally got a chance to work on the 12 Days of Christmas and was able to get three more days finished.  Tomorrow I'll finish the last three days and be ready for Saturday.  So here are days 4 through 6.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me.......four candy canes.

 Stamps

12 Days of Christmas, Christmas Bliss, Jolly Bingo Bits (retired)

Paper

Whisper White, Nordic Noel Designer Series Paper

Ink

Real Red

Accessories

Party Pennants Bigz Die, Scallop Tag Topper Punch

On the Fifth Day of Christmas, my true love sent to me.......a Chevron gift bag full of five thank you note cards and envelopes.

Stamps

12 Days of Christmas, Lots of Thanks, Many Merry Stars

Paper

Whisper White, Island Indigo, Chevron Tag a Bag Gift Bags, Whisper White Notecards and Envelopes

Ink

Island Indigo

Accessories

Banners Framelits, 1/4" Island Indigo Cotton Ribbon

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, six herbal tea bags.

Stamps

12 Days of Christmas

Paper

Garden Green, Whisper White, Trim the Tree Designer Series Paper Stack

Ink

Garden Green

Accessories

 Note Tag Punch

It has been fun trying to come up with gifts for the 12 days while keeping it somewhat easy to make for a class.  Obviously, I didn't have access to French Hens, Turtle Doves or a Partridge in a Pear Tree.  And trying to package a bunch of ladies dancing or lords a leaping defies the imagination.  So we will just continue with the simple gifts which sometimes are the best for a little holiday cheer.  Hope you enjoy the remaining 6 gifts which I will show you in the next two days.  Hugs, Sherron

More stars and the 12 days of Christmas

I spent the weekend making lots of stars from the Many Merry Stars Simply Created Kit and designing the first of the 12 days of Christmas project for my Gifts for the Giving Class.  There are 26 different stars in the kit and it took several days to make all 26, but they are so pretty.  There are five different colors and patterns with five different stars in each color plus one very big star that dwarfs them all.  The Many Merry Stars Photopolymer stamp set is used for five of the cards plus I decided to use the set for my second day of Christmas so here are pics of a few stars, the set and the first three days of Christmas.

Stamps

Many Merry Stars

Ink 

Real Red

Accessories

Many Merry Stars Simply Created Kit

Here is the first day of Christmas project.  On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me....... a crazy santa mug full of Keurig cups.

Stamps

12 Days of Christmas, Festival of Trees available in a bundle

Paper

Real Red 12"by 12" and 8 1/2" by 11",  Whisper White, Garden Green

Ink

Real Red, Garden Green, Soft Suede

Accessories

Gift Box Punch Board, Tree Punch, Scalloped Tag Topper Punch

On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me.......two sparkly stars.

Stamps

Many Merry Stars, 12 Days of Christmas

Paper

Whisper White, Pacific Point, Silver and Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper

Ink

Pacific Point

Accessories

Scallop Tag Topper Punch, Stars Framelits

On the third day of Christmas my true love sent to me........three Christmas Balls.

Stamps

12 Days of Christmas, Merry Minis (retired)

Paper

Whisper White, Real Red

Ink

Real Red

Accessories

Tag a Bag Gift Boxes, Real Red Satin Woven Ribbon, Angled Tag Topper Punch,  Christmas Balls (Purchased and filled with Crystal Effects and Glitter)

I'm still designing the last several days of Christmas, so check back tomorrow for more sneak peeks of the Gifts for the Giving projects and a few more days of things that my true love is sending.  Hugs, Sherron