Dear Santa, Define Good...

Well, we're almost 8 hours into the supposed last day ever and so far everything seems to be going along just as it always does.  Hope I didn't just jinx us into a zombie apocalypse, but since the other side of the world appears to have survived 12-21-12, I'm hopeful we will too!  And to help celebrate we have another festive holiday image as today's Sassy Studio Designs Fabulous Freebie Friday!  Join us over on Paper Craft Planet to snag this sexy Sassy Santa and peruse the gorgeous design team creations!  There's also a new "Anything Goes" challenge for this fortnight so we hope you'll play along!

I colored Mrs. Claus with Copics and fussy cut her.  The bow on the present is paper pieced.  I kept the design simple, using my Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles Nestabilities as a mat and adding only one rhinestone and punched snowflake embellishment.  Papers are My Mind's Eye - Merry.

We're having a little giveaway on the SSD blog too!  If you leave a comment on today's FFF post telling us what you would do with your last day on Earth you'll be entered into a random drawing for one image of your choice.  Me...  I'd spend every moment of mine with my small man, doing whatever made him happy.  Oh, and I think we'd have Christmas early and open all the gifts!  lol

Speaking of Christmas, are you ready for the holiday that arrives in 4..3..2..1?  I'm not!  Almost, but not quite.  There are a few last minute gifts to buy, a bit more wrapping, a little cooking, and A LOT of baking!  And I volunteered to put up a tree at my brother's new house tonight!  He just moved in Monday and it's just not right if he doesn't have a tree for the holidays!  It's nothing fancy, but with some lights and ornaments, it'll twinkle merrily just the same.

Regardless of where you are on your holiday To Do List, I hope your are busy making holiday memories to be treasured for years to come!  I know have been enjoying the holiday season with Kayne!  There have been a few things lately that have really made me slow down and savor the moments I have with him.  And he is SO excited this year!  Which is contagious and has me even more in the spirit than I usually am!  Only four more sleeps until Santa comes...

Merry Christmas to all!

{hugs}
Regan

Hanging the Wreath

Tis the Season!  Head over to Sassy Studio Designs Paper Craft Planet group to snag today's free image, Hanging the Wreath.  She will be available for 24 hours, beginning at 8am EST today.

 Challenges:
- Sunday Sketch & Stamp: #136-Sketch 

Have a fabulous and festive weekend!

{hugs}
Regan

Trimming the Tree

Only four Fridays left until the end of the year (or 3 until the end of the world, if you follow the Mayan calendar!  lol)!  That means only four more Sassy Studio Designs Fabulous Freebie Fridays on Paper Craft Planet for 2012!  But we have some fun holiday and winter images planned for you so be sure to check in each week!

Today's image is called Trimming the Tree.  This is one of my favorite holiday traditions, and my tree goes up the weekend after Thanksgiving!  I love the magical glow of the lights, and how every ornament has a story behind it.  The first thing we do when we wake up or get home is turn that tree on!  It just makes home that much cozier and a little more festive!  For my card, I used Bo Bunny Mistletoe papers with the current The Sketchy Challenges layout (#37).  Our challenge over on PCP is "Deck the Halls".  We want you to use 3 or more different embellishments on your creation!  I've used the Christmas Cheer baubles from K&Company, a light string from Jolee's, and a holiday muse token from Tim Holtz.  My image is colored with Copics and fussy cut (no easy feat, I might add).  

I have a weekend full of holiday cheer here!  Saturday night is my work party.  I get to dress up and the food is always phenomenal!  Then Sunday evening I plan to take the small man to a holiday lights festival at a local ski area!  I hope your weekend is filled with holiday magic too!

Be sure to visit PCP within the next 24 hours to grab your freebie!  And please leave some love to welcome the new Fabettes!  We had a "shift rotation" if you will and as of December 1st we have a group of gals with us for the next two months!  Let's make them feel welcomed!  (We also have a special guest designer joining us for the month!)

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Friday!

{hugs}
Regan 

Life is Precious

Life is precious.  And amazing. And fleeting.  No matter how long our loved ones get to stay with us, it is never long enough.  I have been thinking about that a lot this past week.  I happened upon a blog through a friend's facebook feed that has had a profound effect on me.  The story of a courageous little boy with an inoperable brain tumor and his amazing mom.  I read mom Kerri's blog, Keiki Kai, from start to finish.  Kai, this sweet little 2 year old, and his mom Kerri both showed such incredible love and strength and captured my heart!  Sadly, Kai lost his battle on November 27, 2012.  I am heart-broken for them.  It is every parents' worst fear to lose a child and it really made me think about how uncertain life is.  I know that I've held Kayne a little closer, played a little more, snuggled a little harder this past week.  I have never met Kerri or Kai, but Kerri's candid, heartfelt, insightful, and poignant writing made me feel as though I had.  And I am certain I am a changed parent because of it.  I know there are responsibilities that I must attend to.  The mundane details of life.  I have to go to work.  I have to cook dinner.  And do the dishes.  And the laundry.  But sometimes when it's a choice between catching up on emails or making a card versus playing "fort" under the afghan with Kayne, well, that should be one easy decision!   

So needless to say, I've been a bit neglectful of my crafting, but I do have three orders I completed to share.  The first is a card to celebrate life!  That is the wonder and mystery of it all.  Where there is an end there are also new beginnings.  And new miracles.   I was asked to make a card for a very special baby by a friend.  I chose Baby Jake from Saturated Canary as my image.  I also used the fabulous sketch from the current Saturated Canary challenge (#31).  Papers are My Mind's Eye - Fine and Dandy Boy/True Blue.  I used the Floral Ovals Nestabilities dies from Spellbinders as well as the Fancy Tags dies.  The star border is a Martha Stewart punch.  I added lace and seam binding.  The baby bracelet is made from heart shaped beads and strung on wax thread to spell out the baby's first and middle name.

The next card was another special order and the recipient is going to the Miss America pageant.  I thought the Katniss Girl on Fire Sassy image from Sassy Studio Designs was perfect for this!

I colored Katniss with Copics and fussy cut her.  I also cut one of the crowns from the papers, which are My Mind's Eye - Lost & Found Market Street.  The only tool I used was my corner rounder punch and I also kept embellishments to a minimum, adding only a few rhinestones and some black organdy ribbon.  The sentiment is computer generated.  The sketch is last week's Sketch Saturday (#235).

The final card is an order from a co-worker for a get well card.  There were two stipulations: it had to have a pig on it and it had to be pink.  The image is a free coloring page found doing a google search and the sentiment is computer generated.  Papers are DCWV - Nana's Nursery.  I added black rhinestones, a flower, and metal corners from Tim Holtz.  Sketch is a Mojo Monday one from a couple of weeks ago (#268).

I do have crafting to attend to this week.  It is something I love.  But enjoying this holiday season with my precious little boy seems more important than ever to me.  I will continue to follow Keiki Kai, and I hope to see more of the outpouring of love and support that his life and his death inspired.  I know that he is watching over his mom now and will take care of her as she grieves.  

If you would like to donate to Kai's Village, here is some info and links.

   
Memorial contributions to honor Kai may be made to Kai’s Village c/o Grafton Suburban Credit Union 86 Worcester St. N.Grafton MA 01536 or The Michael Carter Lisnow Respite Center 112 Main St. Hopkinton MA 01748. 

To learn more about Kai’s story visit www.kaisfightclub.org

"Always kiss your children goodnight, even if they're already asleep." ~ H. Jackson Brown Jr.

{hugs}
Regan

The Corrosive Challenge #163 - Anything Goes

It has been a busy holiday weekend here with shopping and decorating!  I also got to enjoy a second Thanksgiving dinner yesterday as my mom is finally feeling better.  I haven't really had time for much crafting.  Too wrapped up in untangling lights only to plug them in and find half the strand dioesn't work!  But when I saw this adorable snowman freebie from A Day For Daisies on Friday I knew I would have to color him up for my Corrosive Challenge project!  ADFD is our sponsor after all!  This challenge, the last one for 2012, is "Anything Goes". After that the Corrosive Challenge team will be taking a well-deserved and much needed hiatus for the holidays!  We will be hosting a design team call in December, however, and we'll see you December 9th with all the details on that!   

As for this fellow, his name is Snowball Scott and can be found HERE on ADFD's challenge blog.  He is a generous freebie for their current challenge, which is simply to use this cute guy to make something!  I couldn't resist!  So I colored him up using Copics and Prismacolor Art Markers, and popped him onto the current sketch from The Sweet Stop (SSS186).  Papers are My Mind's Eye -  Christmas Traditions.  I added a couple of flowers, bling, a punched snowflake, and some glitter letters to dress it up.  The sentiment is punched with an oval and comes from the My Favorite Things set called Cool Yule.

Please head over to The Corrosive Challenge to see what the rest of the design team gals have created for this challenge and why not join us for your chance at winning a fabulous ADFD prize while you're there!

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your weekend!  I'm off to Target shortly for more lights...

{hugs}
Regan    

Make a Scene

It's the day after Thanksgiving, otherwise known as Black Friday, and I will be leaving work at noon to join my best friend on our annual shopping trip.  We've never bothered with all those early bird specials...  It's not been about the deals.  Or even the shopping really.  It's always been about a fun day together that usually culminates in dinner and drinks somewhere.  And then more drinks.  lol  Although last year it ended with The Muppet Movie in the theater.  Hmm, maybe we're losing our edge...

But before I head off on my retail adventures and kick off the holiday season, let me share today's Sassy Studio Designs Fabulous Freebie Friday image with you!  There are two, actually.  And they are gorgeous background scenes!  This is the underwater one, but there is a tropical one as well!  Both are being offered today as our 24 hour freebie over on the SSD Paper Craft Planet group!  There is a new challenge beginning there too- Make a Scene!  I used Polka Dot Bikini to create my scene.  The snorkel I found through a google search.  After coloring and fussy cutting both I popped the sexy snorkeler up with foam squares onto of my colored scene.  All coloring was done with Copics.  I added a few pearls, flowers, punched branches, and a word band from Tim Holtz.  The bubbles and inside her mask are colored with my glaze pen.  Papers are Stampin' Up.

Please head over to PCP to see what sort of scenes the Fabettes are making!  And be sure to snag your backgrounds before they disappear!

Have an amazing day and thanks for dropping in!

{hugs}
Regan

The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't

Thanksgiving has always been about family for me.  It was a day to gather and talk and eat and laugh and just revel in the good things in life, especially the people who are most important to us.  When my dad called this morning to say that my mom was sick (probably the flu) and that we wouldn't be having Thanksgiving, I was heart-broken!  I did offer to come over and cook the dinner, but knowing she would never really be able to rest with a 3 year old on the loose and me asking where this and that was in the kitchen, it was decided it was probably best to stay away.  That left me standing in my own kitchen, which was NOT stocked for a Thanksgiving feast by any means, with tears in my eyes, wondering how I was going to give my small man the kind of happy Thanksgiving I had always been blessed with.  Luckily, one post on facebook was all it took for the kindness of others to find us!  Lovely friends invited us to join them for their festivities, and we ended up having a wonderful day!  We were even sent on our way with a plate of leftovers so I was able to stop by my parents' and drop off a Thanksgiving dinner for my dad as well.  Friends are the family we choose, and I am grateful I have such amazing people in my life!  They opened up their hearts and their home to us and made all the difference!

In the Thanksgiving spirit, I have a few cards to share.  I made them earlier in the week, but just had time to blog them now.  The first two were created using images from A Day For Daisies.  Roast Turkey and Flowers anyone?  This image is simply delicious!  It was colored with Copics and cut with the Classic Circles Nestabilities by Spellbinders and matted with the Picot Edge Circles.  A white doily adds some texture and it's prettied up further with flowers, autumn leaves, and some bling.  The designer paper and muse token are from Tim Holtz.

The next one is a scraplift from the fabulously talented Tracy at I Wanna Build A Memory.  I saw her card and was just smitten!  You can see her original masterpiece here.  (She was a member of the ADFD design team when she made this.)  The image is called Butterfly Harvest, and was also colored with Copics.  I did put my own twist on it by fussy cutting the image and popping it up on top of an embossed layer.  Papers are Basic Grey.  I added lace, pearls, the same Cuttlebug corner Tracy used, some flowers, and a couple of Martha Stewart punched butterflies and branches.

My final card features a Saturated Canary image.  This sweet fella is called Scratch.  He is colored with Copics and cut & matted using the Deckled Edge Rectangles Nestabilities from Spellbinders.  Two strips were punched with a Martha Stewart border punch that has a Native American feel to me.  Paper is from my stash as are the flowers and bling. 

Kayne and I have spent the evening watching Christmas specials and I'm very excited for the holidays this year!  I love Christmas anyway, but it will be magical to see it through his eyes now that he is old enough to be excited about it!  Tomorrow I will venture out with my best friend for our annual Black Friday shopping trip.  Then this weekend there will be decorating and hopefully a belated Thanksgiving dinner with my family.

Today, and every day, I am thankful for the many blessings I have in my life!  I hope you all had a safe and happy Thanksgiving with those you love!  Thanks for visiting me today, and enjoy your weekend! 

{hugs}
Regan      

Sassy Studio Designs The Joy of Giving Release

Welcome to Sassy Studio Designs The Joy of Giving Release!  Lindsay has drawn some beautiful holiday images for this month's release, and they are now available in the online store for use on your holiday projects!  We'll even help get you started with a challenge!

 

The challenge is VINTAGE OR SHABBY CHIC...

 The definition of vintage is:

Too old to be considered modern, but not old enough to be considered antique.  Can also be a euphemism for "heavily used" items.  Retro, recently out of style with potential to make a comeback

The definition of shabby chic is:
 
The use of used, worn, or inexpensive components to make stylish goods.  Something that's rather worn out/tattered yet has a touch of understated class.

Head over to the Sassy Studio Designs blog to see the fabulous creations from the design team and to play along in the challenge.  Three participants, selected at random, will each win one image from the release, and one lucky entrant will receive all five new holiday images!  Also if you leave a comment on the SSD blog, you'll be entered for a chance to win one images from the new release!

The image I was assigned is called All Wrapped Up.  I love shabby chic!  I find it... romantic and enchanting. So that was the style I chose to work with for my project.  I bought a fabulous white mini shadow box by 7 Gypsies at Michaels for the occasion!  My image is colored with Copics and Prismacolor Art Markers then fussy cut.  I backed the shadow box with some papers from my Fancypants- Winterland paper pad, adding lace trim, tulle rosettes, pearls, punched snowflakes, a Tim Holtz muse token that reads "Christmas" and his metal corners.

It was a fun and easy project and I may just have to make more!  These would make fantastic home decor gifts for the holidays and will work with a variety of images!  

I have a busy week of shopping, baking, crafting, and decorating ahead of me!  In between the full-time job and my small man, of course!  But this will be the case from now until New Year so I'd better get used to it!  'Tis the season!  Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Markers used: Copics (E11, E21, E00, R20, R24, R27, R29, BG10, E79, E37, E23) and Prismacolor Art Markers (169, 198).

{hugs}
Regan  

When Sparkle Goes Awry

Sparkly vampires?  Bram Stoker is rolling over in his grave!  lol  But though I prefer my vampires with a bit less bling, sparkle is on a rampage here!  Welcome to today's Sassy Studio Designs Fabulous Freebie Friday!  In honor of the theatrical release of Breaking Dawn Part 2, Lindsay is offering an amazing Bella and Edward image entitled "Immortal Love".  It can be found on our Paper Craft Planet group for the next 24 hours.  And our challenge this fortnight, now in its 2nd week, is "Make It Sparkle"!

Did I mention that I'm TOTALLY Team Jacob?  Have been since the very beginning.  I couldn't make a Twilight card and not include him!  I just couldn't!  I find those wolf eyes haunting and comforting all at the same time.  They come from a wonderful paper stack from DCWV.  It's also called Immortal Love and contains a gorgeous array of Twilight inspired papers.  Our happy couple is colored with Copics and then Edward's skin was colored over with my Stardust pen.  The sparkle actually looks better in this photo due to the flash than it does in real life (where it has a bit of a gold hue to it).  The sentiment stamped on the metal rimmed tag is from Artful INKables (which I believe is now defunct).  The set is called Fictionally Inspired.  All I added for embellishments is a couple of flowers, one black rhinestone flourish, and a black doily cut with my French Pastry die from Cheery Lynn Designs.

I am off to the theater this evening after work to see the movie with the girls!  I have to admit that though I'm not a huge fan of the actors they selected to play Bella and Edward, I will enjoy it!  I loved the books and I adore Jacob (and his abs) so I go and suffer through Kristen Stewart's awful acting.  (Incidentally, she had the same expression on her face for all of Snow White and the Huntsman as she did for the Twilight Saga.)  But I digress...  Please head over to PCP to snag this awesome image and to see what the FANG-tasic Fabettes have created!  

Have a wonderful weekend and don't forget to visit the Sassy Studio Designs blog tomorrow and Sunday for our Joy of Giving release!

Markers used: Copics (E11, E21, E00, E79, E37, E23, E31, E34, E04, R20, R24, R27, R29, Y28, N0, N2, N4, N6, N8, 100).

{hugs}
Regan      

All Father

Happy Monday!  I wanted to share the last of my Simply B(etty) Stamps Teen Scene Norse Gods cards with you today!  I know he was previewed and released on Friday, but he wasn't quite ready by post time.  My dad celebrated his birthday on Friday so I made a card for him using Chris Odin.  Odin is the All-Father in Norse mythology and is associated with war, battle, victory, and death as well as wisdom, magic, poetry, prophecy, and the hunt.

I colored my image with Copics and Prismacolor Art Markers.  I then fussy cut him and used foam squares to pop him up.  The sketch is from Sassy Studio Designs (DTBST #150).  I opted to leave off the banner sentiment on the front as I didn't want to obstruct the image in any way.  Papers are from my stash and I can't recall who makes them.  I added black pearls and black organdy ribbon.  The die cut is the Labels Ten Nestabilities from Spellbinders and it is embossed with a fleur de Lis Cuttlebug folder.  The sentiment on the inside is also from Simply Betty Stamps and was created especially to coordinate with the Norse Gods collection.

 I'd also like to share the card my son made for his Papa.  Now there is a little back story that needs to be told here...  My dad loves old movies.  Watching movies together has always been our thing.  He was the only family member who would watch horror movies with me when I was a teenager.  And when I was young we used to watch Abbott & Costello movies together.  Among my favorites were the "scary" ones- Meets Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Wolfman; Meets the Mummy; Meets the Invisible Man; Meets Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, etc.  A few years back we gave him a box set collection of the movies on DVD.  This year we started watching them with Kayne.  And he LOVES them!  He's only 3, but he's an Abbott & Costello fan!  Every time we go to my parents' house he asks to watch one!  So when I asked him what he wanted to out on his grandfather's birthday card, he had me look through my collection of images for Mr. Hyde (I don't have one!), a mummy (too scary, he said), Dracula (same thing), the Wolfman (also too scary) and then Frankenstein.  He finally settled on Mayzy Art's Halloween Frankenstein.  I printed him out and let my small man color him up.  With Kayne's input as to paper and embellishment choices, we finished an amazing card that his Papa adored!  Here it is:

Kayne was so proud of his creation that he wanted to keep it!  lol  I told him we would color another one for him.Here's a couple of photos of Kayne working on his Papa's card.

And this is them with my parent's new black lab puppy, Finn McCool (Finn for short).

Sorry for the quality... They were taken with my phone.  Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a marvelous day!

Markers used on Odin: Copics (E11, E21, E00, R20, Y32, Y35, E23, E37, E79, W4, W6, W8, W10, 100) and Prismacolor Art Markers (149, 209).

{hugs}
Regan 

The Corrosive Challenge #162 - Flutter By

November!  Can you believe it's almost Thanksgiving, followed closely by the joyous holiday season?!  Around here a new month means a new sponsor at The Corrosive Challenge, and we'd like to welcome A Day For Daisies!

 A Day For Daisies (also known as ADFD) provides themed categories of over 1000 digital illustrations, including fairy tales and magical mermaids, cutie kids, vintage illustrations, sentiments and lovely designs for all occasions.  Be sure to check out what is available in the shop, and head over to the blog for some awesome inspiration! 

Tammy at ADFD is offering a $12 gift voucher to our monthly winner!  That's the equivalent of 3 images!  We definitely appreciate her generosity!  Each member of the team was even able to select an image to work with for the challenge!  Speaking of challenge, the theme this fortnight is "Flutter By".  So basically anything with wings qualifies!  I chose Beautiful Pixie for my project.  She is colored with Copics and cut with the Labels Twenty-One Nestabilities from Spellbinders.  I added a liberal amount of Crystal Stickles to her wings!  I used a lot of die cuts, and a couple of punches, on this one.  The doliy is French Pastry from Cheery Lynn Designs.  The swirl is a Magnolia Doohickey.  The snowflake border is Frostyville from Memory Box.  Both punches (snowflake and snowflake border used inside) are Martha Stewart.  Papers are Winterland by Fancy Pants Designs.  A few flowers, some pearls, and a Tim Holtz Christmas muse token finish off this wintry holiday card. 

 
Please head over to The Corrosive Challenge blog to see the stunning creations the design team has to share with you!  Perhaps inspiration will strike and you'll play along!

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend!

Markers used: Copics (E11, E21, E00, E79, E37, E23, BG10, BG13, BG15, YG91, YG93, R81).

Challenges:
- Delightful Challenges: Let It Snow (Snowflakes)
- Paper Play Challenges: #45-Snowflakes
- Flutter By Wednesdays: #213-Anything Goes (with a butterfly or fairy)
- Paper Shelter Challenges: #89-Fairies and Elves

{hugs}
Regan