Hi all

Today I had the most awful experience..really upsetting!  I was traveling on Joppa Road in Towson and signaled to make a left turn onto a side street in the neighborhood where I grew up.  There was a car coming down the side street....but she whipped into a U turn right in front of me!  Not only did she cut right in front of my car but she had pulled so far forward onto Joppa Road that she was actually in the lane going in the opposite direction from me as she turned.  Had I not screeched to a halt, we would have collided badly. I was totally irritated to see that not only was she holding and talking on a cell phone, but there was a young child sitting in the back seat!!!   I stopped my car and walked back to her.   She rolled down her window and apologized to me, saying that she was lost.   I told her she did not need to apologize to me but to her son, as she had seriously endangered him by holding and talking on a cell phone while driving.  She persisted in saying she was lost...I said then pull over and make your call!!!   She went into a tirade asking, hadn't I ever made a poor judgment?  Really?  Are you kidding me?  She continued to hold her phone and seemed unable to glean any insight into the horribly dangerous habit of talking while driving.  I walked away shaking my head and saying a prayer that the child's guardian angel is vigilant, because the mom wasn't at all!!  A long time ago, I was in an accident with my son in the car - we were rear ended while sitting at a stop light.   I felt horrible for not being able to keep my son safe from this danger even though clearly I had done nothing to create the situation, except be at the wrong place at the wrong time.  How could this woman not see the need to put down the damn phone!!   Please friends...keep your family safe - don't "cell" while driving.

Here is the project for today...

This project is made from the Framelits...three of them are glued together with the snowflake suspended inside.  Have to admit, the gals were a little stumped by the process of gluing half of one side to the next frame and then that frame to the third one but eventually everyone got theirs assembled.  The glitter paper looked great!
Are you considering giving stampin products to a friend or family member for Christmas?   Contact me about getting a gift certificate.   I will make you a nice card to hold the gift certificate. 
Peggy

Ornament class

Hi all
Today I had a lovely group of elves here, making a variety of holiday ornaments.  After the ladies left, I closed up my stamp room and headed out to eat dinner with my hubby.  When we returned home, I came back to my stamp room to clean up and put away my stamps and tools.  But...this is what I found!!!!

Oh no!  not sure exactly what happened but all of the ornaments were scattered on the floor!!  horrors!  I suspect that the heat blowing out of the ceiling vent softened the fun tack that was on the base of the tree, allowing it to fall over. Luckily, the only damage was a broken leg on my elf!!
Come back tomorrow to see close ups of the projects!
Are you hoping to attend a stamp class between now and the first of the year?  contact me with a suggested topic and date.  Let me help you make some lovely gifts, tags, packages, or cards.
Peggy

Holiday SAS session 4, project 5

Hi all
Here is the last holiday stamp a stack card for this season.  It is a fun card that was inspired by one I saw on the blog of another demo in my Stampin' Up! group, Patty.   As usual, I tweaked it a bit. 

When we made it in class, everyone got an assortment of Designer Series background papers and it was fun to see how the different papers change the overall look of the card.  Why did I do that?  Well, first of all, it is difficult to come up with enough of the same DSP for everyone to make exactly the same card, especially when each person is making multiples of each card.  Also, I once had a lovely lady attend all my classes for many months, but she obsessed about making her card EXACTLY like mine.  She was undone if she had to use a different pattern, or button, or ribbon.  It was so sad for me to see that she wouldn't allow herself to explore the possibilities.  She would ask for help, insisting that her card be just like mine.  I think most seasoned stampers will agree that sometimes the best ideas you come up with are accidents!!  I want my gals to have the opportunity to see how variations help express your individual style.
This card made use of many of my punches... pennant punch for the Santa hat, mitten builder for the mittens, owl punch for the goodie bag, tag punch for the bricks, and little label punch for the packages. Love it!!
Come back soon to see the ornaments from the Dec 1st class.

Peggy

Hi all
Well, I have to begin my post today with a big "Happy Birthday" wish to my dear older son, Davy.  Today he is 26 years old.  Davy is a wonderful son and man.  He is very focused and accomplished and it has been a treat to be his mom.  Where did the all the years go?   I remember when he was a young boy, he had the biggest mop of blond hair.  Early on, I use to cut his hair myself...bowl cut and all that jazz!  Now the light of the top of his head is showing through...how can that be?  As a little boy, he would methodically build with blocks, sometimes trying particular alignments of the blocks many times before he got exactly the correct alignment to build the way he wanted.  Today he is a mechanical engineer.  He prides himself in knowing as much as possible about every element of his job.  Soon he will be graduating from UMBC with his Master's degree.  He is always a great help to me when I prepare our holiday pies.  I have always said, if you can include a tool in the job, you can get a guy to help ...so Davy always mans the apply corer/pealer device.  It has always been a great help and saves stress on my achy hands!  On Thanksgiving, he works with my goofy dog until Remy can calm down and deal with our company.  Have a fabulous birthday, Davy!   Let me also send out birthday greetings to another addicted stamper, my friend Donna.   Hope you have a wonderful day, too!
Now on to a holiday card....
This card is nice and glitzy!!  Love it!

 

The snowflake was die cut using the Snow Flurry Bigz Die and the Big Shot machine, of course, and the gold glitter paper.  For this card, I resurrected some old gold organza ribbon and a gold brad to keep it all together.  A swatch of designer paper and a die cut pair of labels finish off the card front.  The small stamped medallion in the center of the snowflake is from the Mixed Medley stamp set.  "JOY" and the oval are from the Joyous Celebrations stamp set.  There is a greeting inside from the More Merry Messages set.
Peggy

Hi all,
Today I am back to posting holiday cards.  This one makes use of the Big Shot (of course!) and the Label Collection Floral Frames Framelits and is inspried by a card I saw on Pinterest by Maggie Parsons.  Not sure if she was the originator of the design or just one in a long line of tweaks!

For my card, I decided to try a non-traditional color combination - lucky limeade and night of navy.  This was the "religious" card for the final session of holiday cards ("NOEL").  Some of the ladies felt they had more than enough religious cards from the previous sessions so I went a bit gentle on this last session. 
There are many layers on this card - 6 of them!!!  The lucky limeade card base, the night of navy medallion on the bottom, two different layers of stamped white cardstock, another later of night of navy cardstock (which was cut out of the base medallion using another framelit - they were run though the Big Shot at the same time), and the "NOEL" stamped layer (which had been hand punched from the smaller white layer).  Inside the card there is a label with the greeting (sorry, I don't have a picture of that!) which had been cut with a framelit when the larger white layer was cut).  Did you know that you can use more than one framelit at a time? ... really makes the cutting go quickly and makes great use of your cardstock.  I especially like that cutting the middle out of layers allows you to add layers without adding weight to the card.  Gotta keep those postal costs down!!
Hope you will join us to make some special cards and goodies sometime soon.  Unearth the creative you!!
Peggy

Hi all,
While many of you are probably out shopping, taking advantage of the Black Friday sales, I am here in my stamp room.  I have never been a big fan of crowds and I cannot think of a thing I need or want that is worth the crush.  I hope you have found all the goodies you sought!!
I want to acknowledge another pleasant Thanksgiving dinner at home with my extended family.  Even my stuffing turned out better than usual!  It was worth an extra trip to the grocery store on Thanksgiving to add the celery and perk up the flavor of my stuffing.  Have to admit, I was surprised at the cheerful attitude of the staff at the new Giant on Belair Road at Ebenezer Road as I walked through the store on Thanksgiving.  Not a single sour face in the store.  They seemed genuinely glad to help customers.   Isn't that a great attitude to have at this time of year?
Today I want to share with you a fun idea I saw on Pinterest.  As soon as I saw it, I knew I would have to use it for my coworkers Thanksgiving holiday treats.

One of my schools is Seven Oaks, so obviously, an acorn fits there perfectly and my coworkers at Oliver Beach loved it too.   Some folks said it was my best treat ever!  Hope my book club ladies enjoy it as well!
Here is how I packaged the treats...

The greeting says "Gratitude can transform common days into Thanksgivings." (Stampin' Up! - Day of Gratitude set, available thru my Stampin' Up! website). Gratitude is a big issue for me.   I think there is nothing easier than saying "thank you" - just can't imagine why it is so hard for folks to do.  The word "entitlement" makes my blood run cold - the more entitled people feel, the less they seem to appreciate the kindnesses sent their way.
Here is another picture for you......

I ended up making about 150 of them...they are a Hershey kiss (the most time consuming part was unwrapping the kisses!),  a Nutter Butter Bite cookie (they come in a pouch) and a mini chocolate chip.  I melted some chocolate chips to act as the glue holding the three pieces together.  If you want to give them a try, I suggest you attach the kiss to the cookie first, let them set up a bit and then go add the mini chip. 
Now that you have made it home from the battle of Black Friday, don't forget to check out the specials at my Stampin' Up! online store. http://peggyouten.stampinup.net 
Also, remember to contact me by Nov 28th if you plan to attend the ornaments and treats class to be held on SATURDAY,  that's right SATURDAY, December 1st. at 1PM
Or, if you are more interested in package tags and gift card holders, join me on Sunday, Dec 2 at 2PM - the sign up deadline for that class is also Nov 28th.
Warm wishes to you as we kick off the holiday season.  I appreciate the support and loyalty of my customers and followers.  What are you thankful for this season?   Leave a comment on this blog entry and I'll draw a name for a secret prize.

Peggy

Holiday SAS#4 Card post #2

Hi all
First, thanks to all who have already made an Extravaganza Sale purchase through my Stampin' Up! website (peggyouten.stampinup.net).  Glad to see folks are taking advantage of the various discounts - 20%, 25%, 30%, 40%, 50%....Get yourself the holiday gift you really want or whisper in your loved ones ear to call me and I will help them get a great deal for you! 

This card has several nice features.  First, I love the textured impressions background...reminds me of a paneled wall.  The star on the tree is punched from gold glitter paper. Can you see at the top of the card there are two elements - polka dotted ribbon and ball fringe trim?  Then, the gold elements on the sides of the greeting are not brads. Nope!  They are actually mini mini mini bells.  I had the gals punch a small hole and then stick the shank of the bell through the hole.  Once the shank was accessible on the back of the card, we slipped a piece of stiff wire through the shank and then we bent it to keep it from sliding out.  The label was edged with the gold paint pen.
Call me if you need help with your Extravaganza order. 
Remember, too, that the ornament class is being held on Saturday, December 1st at 1PM.  I need to hear from you by Nov 28th if you plan to attend.
Peggy