***PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR NEW POSTS! THIS POST WILL REMAIN AT THE TOP THROUGH NOVEMBER***

I am BEYOND EXCITED for this month’s amazing deal from Close To My Heart!

We’ve never done a promotion like this so close to the holidays! This promotion—buy two stamp sets, get one free—is a singular opportunity to make gift giving more fun and more affordable. Tell your friends, your family—you might even want to tell Santa Claus! **Please note that there is NO LIMIT and that the free item (or items) will be the lowest-priced stamp sets of the entire order, regardless of the value of other stamp sets purchased.

Since I am so excited, I am going to throw in some more extra goodness as my holiday gift to you! If you make a purchase on my website from November 1st through November 26th (Thanksgiving Day), I will enter you into a drawing to win a $20.00 Gift Certificate (Redeemable through me at anytime!).

GO HERE to place an order now! And don’t forget to create a fun Christmas Wish List for yourself and send your loved ones my way as well (they will be entered to win too!) The WINNER will be posted here on November 27th and notified via email within the following two days. *Interested in simply purchasing a gift certificate for someone?? Simply email me at Ames33@gmail.com and I will give you more information!

Good luck and Have fun making your list!

Yep, it is that time of the year! I definitely do not waste anytime… as soon as November 1st is here, I am already planning and prepping for Christmas. It is my favorite holiday of all time for many reasons. Normally, we purchase our photo cards from Costco or Shutterfly, but this year I decided that I was going to go ahead and create my own. I did a bit of research (and what do ya know, the Papertrey Ink Design Team challenge came right in time for my venture into photo card world!) and I found that they can actually be quite simple!

I also ran across the Just Us Girls challenge for this week, which just so happens to be a holiday photo card! What are the chances, just so much inspiration right at my door step! I hope that you all will join me in creating a photo card. If you don’t normally do photo cards for Christmas, do share a link to your homemade Christmas cards this year! This will be my DARE for the week… get started on those Christmas cards (with or without a photo!). Last minute cards are just no fun… so put your Christmas spirit on, maybe even take a walk through some past Christmas photos as inspiration to create from your heart for those that you love!

Have a blessed time! And here is mine: I only make cards for writing in for my super close family. But for those far away, I just want to send them some love (and remind them that Im still alive!!). So these cards are flat 4 1/4 x 5 1/2.” I broke out my embosser and tried one with white and one with clear… PLEASE HELP ME CHOOSE which one to use (see the comparison photo below)! They both look lovely with that Papertrey Ink Fancy Flourish! The photo used is NOT the photo that we will be using for our cards — it’s just a stand in so I can get an idea! Hopefully this month we will be able to find time to take a perfect portrait to use! This card is meant to be simple but pretty. I hope you enjoyed it!

Happy November!! I have a great feeling that this month is going to be a great one! I just love the holidays and all of the good times with family and friends that they bring. I already feel a bit behind on my Christmas projects (I know, it’s crazy!).

This week at Pile It On we are challenging you to create a thank you card or project! Easy enough right? Dont forget to pile on at least one more challenge to qualify! I love the fall colors and everything Thanksgiving. I think that we, as Americans, can really take things for granted, so I love that we have a day dedicated to being grateful for the blessings in our lives. For me personally, I am looking forward to giving thanks all month long!

For my card this week, I used the following challenges:

• Pile It On – Thank You
• Mojo Monday — Sketch
• ABC Challenge — G is for Green
• Crafty Creations — Thanksgiving/ Gratitude
• La La Lands — Ribbon
• Stampin Bees — Thanksgiving/ Autumn

Supplies Used:

• Colors: Kraft, CTMH Autumn Terracota, Olive and Chocolate
• Stamps: CTMH “Thank You”, PTI In Bloom
• Accessories: Pearls and Gold Organdy Ribbon

hehe, I just love calling my challenges “dares!” It just makes them even more intriguing and I look forward to them. I dont know about you but I am a competitive person, so when you dare me, I dont back away. My poor, poor husband who tries to play Wii games and board or card games with me… he ends up just getting punched in the arm when he wins! haha but in all seriousness, who enjoys losing?

I am SUPER excited to say that I was one of the Papertrey Ink Annual Holiday Blog Hop WINNERS! I was a bit reluctant to even check on the winners board to see who won, I guess I just assumed that I wouldnt win… but as soon as I clicked that link and saw my name on the top, I just about screamed! It was so exciting to win something that I truly LOVE! I get to pick one free stamp set of my choice as my prize, and let me tell you, it didnt take much time to pick THIS ONE! The Damask Designs set has been used on many beautiful creations by other bloggers and the PTI Design Team, so I had had my eye on it for awhile now. I can not wait to play! Thanks Nicole and the PTI team for the opportunity to win great products!

Alright, now on to this week’s Dare. This week I DARE YOU… to flip your design. Take your pick of any sketch from out there in blog land and instead of doing it exact, flip it, turn it, and have fun with it. Even go as far as using opposites, such as stars for hearts, hearts for circles, leaves for squares… use your imagination and change it up a bit. Most sketch artists are totally cool with this as long as it still follows the main sketch! Below are a few of my favorite sketch sites for your convenience (I will be using the Unscripted Sketch that is shown above…):

Mojo Monday
2 Sketches 4 You
Unscripted Sketches
Card Patterns
CPS

Have fun flipping that design! Please do come back and share a link to your project if you decide to join my dare!

(((More Photos Below)))

This is my first time joining the Papertrey Ink’s Monthly Blog Hop! I have wanted to for a long time, but my monthly order never gets to me in time — however, this time I decided to simply use my current items because I just couldn’t pass up the Annual Holiday Blog Hop; I guarantee that this is going to be great!

I am a huge fan of traditional Christmas colors. I always see other’s using fun and new colors for their Christmas projects, but whenever I try, I just get frustrated and never like the result. So here I am again, using my favorite traditional Christmas colors on all of my projects and I have to say… I love the result!

This year we are going super simple. Decided to fill this little stocking with candies and some fun gift cards for our nephews who are 7 and 4 (and recently discovered how ‘fun’ picking your own gifts out with a gift card is!).  I used Papertrey Ink’s FREE Timeless Template: Stocking Stuffer. This template is probably the easiest template I have ever used and I was finished with this stocking in no time! I also created a mini card to match and while I was at it, I used my Slice to make some cute gift tags. (Supplies Used below) I hope you enjoy my photos and I am looking forward to all of the inspiring creations from everyone else this month too!!

Supplies Used:

Colors: CTMH Cranberry, Topiary, Cream and PTI Kraft
Stamps: PTI Polka Dot Basics, PTI Fancy Flourishes, CTMH Victorian Snowflake
Accessories: Buttons, Cream Ribbon (gift tags)
Tools: Fiskars Crimper and my Slice