Christmassy goodness!

Wowzers trousers! Two posts in one day.. what the heck is going on? Well, the twins are asleep, the big boys are at school, and I'm ignoring all the housework that needs doing... so a typical monday really :)

It's actually a bit of therapy for me today... I'm feeling really *blargh* about everything, so I decided the best thing to do about it would be to vent to the world. Does anyone else ever feel like they're swimming underwater with a rock on their head stopping them from getting to the surface? That's were I am at the moment. I love my kids, and I wouldn't swap any of them for anything, but everything is just so overwhelming at the moment! Our house is a mess (well, nothing new there), the twins are actively destroying anything not nailed down, the older two have attitude coming out their ears, and it's getting to that time of year when everything just goes crazy and there are an additional sebentybajillion things to organise! I keep threatening to go stay in a hotel for a week just to get some peace and quiet, but I know my darling husband would never cope with all 4 kids on his own for anything more than a few hours.
So needless to say, once the kids are in bed and the nightly jobs are done, I feel the need to crack open a bottle of wine and viciously stamp things ;) Has anyone ever seen the cool lassie who does the My Drunk Kitchen videos? I think she's awesomely funny! I totally had the idea to do the same thing, but it would be Adventures of the Drunken Stamper. I can just imagine the wonderful, lopsided, smudged projects that would come forth at the end of each episode ;) Unfortunately I sound absolutely rubbish on video (even though I'm absolutely stunning in every other way ;)), and I have a feeling that Stampin Up demo support wouldn't approve of the idea :) Aahh well... maybe one day some other brave soul will throw their empty wine bottle out there and do it.

Ok, rant over now. A few deep breaths, "have a cup of concrete, princess", and we're back to the stamping! Kathy from StampingStill posted an awesome card the other day where she used the Stiched Stockings stamps and punch to make this card. I though it was a great idea, so I CASEd it for some of my christmas cards. Then at my christmas workshop a friend was playing with the Jolly Bingo Bits set, and we figured out you could use some of them as letters too.... so I did!

I think it looks really cute! Maybe with a bit more thought I could have come up with a better idea for the red panel - maybe some clear or gold embossing, or a nice, stripey DSP - but I  thought it wasn't a bad effort.

So that's it for today, I promise. No more ranting! I know I said I was going to post some pics of the projects from the christmas workshop, and I will, but I have a few ladies who couldn't make it on the day who are going to come round in a couple of weeks, so I don't want to ruin the surprise for them :) Once everyone has finished, I'll post pics :)

One final thing.. after having a good old rant about how difficult it is to have twins (parents of triplets or more may slap me here), I have to share this gorgeous photo I took at playgroup this morning. Max was pushing Wil around the playground in the car, and they were having a lovely time! If only they were always this cute :)

PDCC107 - Another challenge!

Yes, it's another blog challenge entry! I might be getting a bit carried away with all the challenges I've found over the last few days (and there are a couple more coming!), but I've been having so much fun! It's one thing to create a card with a person or occasion in mind, but I've found that it's a lot easier for those who may be creatively challenged at times (i.e. me) to have some constraints or guidelines to work within.

This week's challenge at the Play Date Cafe was to use black and white with a splash of orange. Even though this card is pretty simple, I'm quite proud of it. I'm fairly certain that I made this one up completely by myself! It's sometimes hard to tell, because even though I didn't CASE anyone directly, I may have recalled something that I'd seen somewhere else and just thought I'd come up with it.
Anyway, here it is (and if it looks like something anyone has already done and posted, let me know and I'll credit ;))

It's a bit hard to see in the pic (cos I'm the worlds dodgiest photographer!), but I've used some vanilla shimmer smooch spritz on the black card and there is actually some clear plastic under the orange circle to make a window!


Stamps: Punch Bunch (r), Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Snow Swirled
Cardstock: whisper white, basic black, pumpkin pie
Ink: versamark, basic black, real red, pumpkin pie marker, night of navy
Other: White embossing powder, decorative label punch, white gel pen, owl punch, word window punch, modern label punch, vanilla shimmer smooch spritz. Circle nestabilities dies, big shot

JAI #92 - Just Add a Tag or Bookmark

It's been a very hectic few weeks, and I promise to add some Christmas workshop pics tomorrow, but for now I'm quickly putting up my entry for the Just Add Ink challenge for this week. It was quite by coincidence that I made some thank you tags for the ladies who ordered at my last workshop and this week's challenge is Just Add a Tag or Bookmark... easypeasylemonsqueezy! I figured since I'd already made them to put on the bags, I may as well enter! I absolutely *had* to use my latest toy, the delightful Two Tags die, and it is sooo cute! I can see tags popping up everywhere in my house in the near future :)

Aaaanyhoo.. it's getting late, so I'll add the pic then get my beauty rest (and trust me, I need it!). I'll be back tomorrow to post the goodies we made at the Christmas Extravaganzaaaaaaaa (were there that many a's?), and the latest, most awesomest ever special from Stampin' Up!

Random Creations

I have found it almost impossible to get any crafting done while John has been away! I usually get some things done once all the kids are in bed, but I've been soooo tired I haven't even bothered opening my stamp cupboard. Except to make these:

I managed to meet one of the Stampin' Up! goals for new demos, so I got to choose 3 free stamp sets!! I wanted to get the Jolly Bingo Bits set anyway, so that was the first on my list! The postie came earlier this week, so I just had to have a little play :)



I found the tutorial for the tea bag caddy a while ago on Andrea Walford's site, but hadn't gotten around to making it. My bestie is having her baby in a couple of weeks, and she just about lives on tea when in hospital, so I though I'd include this in her gift basket :)

I've got a workshop and Christmas workshop coming up in the next couple of weeks, so I'm going to be pretty busy getting everything ready! Thank goodness John is coming home on Saturday!