Cards

Goodness gracious, where has the time gone? I can’t believe my two weeks of vacation is coming to an end. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time off- wish I could have another two weeks! Tomorrow morning it’s back to reality.

If you have followed my blog, you know that I rarely create baby cards. There have been a rare few that have been “Paulina approved”. I never seem to make any that reflect my crafting personality and also look decent. However that has all changed. I am SO in love with this card- I can’t get enough of the new DeNami Design stamps! I’m on the DeNami Design team so I get to play with these stamps before anyone else does. With over 60 new designs, it was hard to give each design the attention it deserved!

As you can see, lately I have been digging the stitched look. I love these stitched circles! They can be used for so many different occasions and projects! DeNami Design also has a new stitched border and stitched square. I’m fairly certain that you’ll be seeing both of these on the blog in the near future. :)

I’ll be back later today with my blog candy post. Like I mentioned before, there will be so yummy Martha Stewart goodies this time around!

Stamps: Small Tweety Bird Circle, Small Solid Button, Small Stitched Circle
Paper: Brown Kraft, White, Chocolate Brown, Sky Blue
Ink: Vintage Sepia
Other: 1″ circle punch, Baby Blue grosgrain ribbon

For those of you who have followed my blog since the beginning, you may remember this card. We’re going back to December 1, 2008 for this card. This was my second card featuring buttons- isn’t it amazing how far I’ve come?! ;) I am so amazed at how much my crafting style has changed in just a year. I still think this card is cute, but I think I have improved leaps and bounds since I posted this card. Have any of your gone to your archives to look at older cards? I would thoroughly encourage you to do that. If you think you have been in a crafting rut, this really helps you see how far you’ve come, and it may inspire you to use some of your “older” ideas! I love the idea of using buttons in a tree….may have to try that again soon.

Today, since it’s New Year’s Eve, I’m going to publicly post my goals for 2010. Yes, this is a tiny bit scary having others know, but I think it’ll help me accomplish them since others you’ll ask me about them. ;) *hint hint* A couple days ago I looked back at my goals for 2009 and was pleasantly surprised that I accomplished almost all of them!

Goals for 2010

1. Lose 15 pounds. My ultimate goal is to lose 25….I’ll stick with 15 for now and see if I can accomplish that first.
2. Get published in a crafting magazine. Yes, I realize that I will actually have to submit for this to happen. I’m super nervous about submitting. Any tips from people who have been published?
3. Maintain a healthy lifestyle. I’m slowly trying to get into a more nutritious diet, and I’m also working out at the gym 5 days a week. I really hope to keep this up.
4. Go to three concerts. This may sound silly to some of you, but music is a huge part of my life.
5. Spend less , save more. I did accomplish this in 2009- hopefully I can take it one step further in 2010.

So, what are your goals/ resolutions for this upcoming year? I’d love to hear them!

I need to sign off now- about to get ready for a New Year’s Eve party! I hope you all have a special night and an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G 2010! You all are the reason that I blog and I am so very blessed that you spend a little time with me on my blog.

Many blessings to all of my sweet blog friends!

Happy Wednesday!

Today I have a few Valentine facts for you:

• Approximately 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged each year.
• 15% of U.S. women send themselves flowers on Valentine’s Day.
• Teachers will receive the most Valentine’s Day cards, followed by children, mothers, wives, and then, sweethearts.
• One-third of all Valentine cards are accompanied by gifts.
• An estimated 25 percent of Valentine’s Day cards are humorous

I didn’t realize that some women send themselves flowers for Valentine’s Day! I’m not against people doing that- I love flowers, so I could see myself doing that! LOL
As most of you know, I have had two weeks off for the holidays. I go back to work on January 4th and I’m somewhat dreading it. I have so very much enjoyed my time off relaxing, getting together with friends and sleeping in! This past week has been filled with many parties {I’m even going to one tonight!}. I love getting together with friends, I just wish I had time to do other things too! Alas, I’m going to have to cram everything in these next four days….

Stamps: Heart Prints
Paper: White, Black, Raspberry Fizz, Raspberry Fizz Mix
Ink: Onyx Black, Cherry Pink
Other: light pink grosgrain ribbon, heart punch, pink button

Hi there!

It’s me again…and I have yet another Valentines card. Just a forwarning: I will have LOTS of them while Valentine’s Day approaches. Hope you stick through them with me! Remember, Valentines Day isn’t just for a boyfriend/ husband/ significant other…..you can show love to co-workers, neighbors, teachers, etc…

Today is going to be filled with lots of activity. I went to the gym {unwanted pounds, be prepared to vanish!}, got myself ready for the day, and now I’m getting ready to go shopping, eat some sushi with my lil sis and go to a bachelorette party. I have yet to find a gift for the bachelorette party- any suggestions? ;) I have a couple ideas, but we’ll have to see how much they total up. This party is going to {hopefully} be on the mellow side- no repeats of what was seen on The Proposal! When I get engaged, I’m definitely making it clear to my bridesmaids that I do NOT want a crazy bachelorette party….

Now onto the card for today: I decided to try something new and stamped my own “printed” background. OH. MY. GOODNESS. It took F-O-R-E-V-E-R to accomplish this! I had six different stamps for the background and I tried to space them out across the kraft cardstock. I love the way it turned out- just wished it didn’t take so long to do! Everything else about the card is fairly simple….after finishing the background, I didn’t feel like doing any more “hard work”! ;)

Have any of you started Valentines cards? If so, send me some links! I don’t always get a chance to browse through all the different blogs {that’s a full-time job in itself!}. I truly do love looking at others work- it really inspires me and I also love reading about your lives!

I need to scoot. About to go get my shop on. Hopefully I don’t do too much damage to the wallet!

Stamps: Heart Prints, Dots Background
Paper: Brown Kraft, Cream, Dark Chocolate, Pure Poppy
Ink: Vintage Sepia, Satin Red
Other: cream grosgrain ribbon, SU! scallop border punch, red & white button, distresser, heart punch

Hello friends!

I’m sorry that I have been such a bad blogger lately. With the madness of Christmas shopping/ present wrapping and hosting of gatherings, I’m hoping that I’ll get to post a little more often. I miss reading comments and hearing from you all! :)

Did you all have a good Christmas? Ours was fairly low key, which was exactly what I needed. In years past things seemed chaotic and stressful- thankfully that was not the case this year. We had a HUGE feast with the extended family. With 5 little ones running about and 11 adults talking/ relaxing, there wasn’t a rush to open presents.We eventuallygot around to opening presents and then we called it a night around 9pm. Usually I am one of the first in line at Target for their after Christmas sale, but this year I didn’t feel the need to go. I wasn’t impressed with their wrapping paper or ornaments this year, so I opted to stay home and get some projects done. Did anyone do after Christmas shopping? If so, what did you get?

I’m getting super excited for Valentine’s this year.It might have to do with the fact that I love the color combos that go along with Valentine’s Day, and I’m also tired of making Christmas cards/ projects! I’m hoping to get some Valentine inspired items in my Etsy store soon….we’ll see how that goes. ;)

Well, that’s a wrap for tonight. Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to leave a comment- it might motivate me to update a little more often. hehe

Stamps: Heart Prints
Paper: White, Dark Chocolate, Ripe Avocado, Plum Pudding, Bitty Dots Basics
Ink: Imperial Purple, Vintage Sepia, Ripe Avocado, Lavender Moon
Other: Ripe Avocado grosgrain ribbon, heart punches, EK Success scallop border punch