A Merry Little Christmas

Today is another CBC Challenge day, and this week we have a sketch challenge for you! Here is the sketch:

And here is my interpretation of it:

I absolutely fell in love with the Jolly Squares paper over at i {heart} papers the first time I saw it. I think I even linked it up here back then, saying you could use it for so many different things. Well, here is one example! I cut some of the squares apart, and used them to make this card. The reindeer image (including the red border around it) is one of those squares, and then each of the (3/4") circles you see was punched from a separate square and mounted on a larger (1") circle of Riding Hood Red paper. The other colors I used on the card are Certainly Celery and Baja Breeze. They coordinate PERFECTLY! I love it!

I finished it off with some white ribbon and added stickles and metallic silver string for a little bling. Oh, and the snowflake you see on the green is a stamp from that Christmas Characters set you've seen me use before! Doesn't it just make for a neat and EASY card?! Did I mention that I love it? Because I do.

Here is a close up side view. You can see the circles are raised up on dimensionals:

And can I just say that Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas may just be one of my favorite songs ever! I love it. It was sung by Judy Garland in the movie Meet Me in St. Louis. I actually was in production of that musical when I was in high school, and maybe that's why the song strikes such a cord with me, I'm not sure. Anyhow, I just thought I'd share. :)

Be sure to stop back tomorrow and see something else I "made" (I use the term loosely - lol!) tonight that coordinates with this card AND ties in to tomorrow's Belli Challenge!

i {heart} papers supplies:
Jolly Squares Paper
Stardust Stickles
Metallic Silver String
Christmas Characters Stamp Set (Stampendous)

Other Supplies:
Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, and Certainly Celery paper
3/4" and 1" Circle Punches
White Ribbon (Hobby Lobby)
Pop Dots (Hobby Lobby)

Mama's Got A Brand New 'Do

I have been wanting to go back to a shorter haircut for awhile now. I thought I remembered it being easier to take care of. Turns out that really isn't true, but oh well! Anyhow, I thought I'd share a quick before and after.

Here is a picture that was taken last weekend for our Christmas cards:



And here's my new look:

I had this cut about five years ago and loved it. My stylist ended up moving to Milwaukee then, and I never found anyone else who could duplicate it correctly until now. I've been going to Shawna at Jacinda's Spa and Salon and love her. If you're in the Oshkosh area and looking for a new stylist, give her a try. I think you'll be pleased.

Christmas 2007

You know how the name of my blog is The Scrampin' Mama? Did you know that by definition, a scramper is one who stamps AND scraps? When I created this blog, I fully intended to do both, in equal parts. As it turned out though, I have always been heavy on the stamping while my scrapping has all but disappeared from sight.

Well, I decided to remedy that tonight! I got this SUPER cute Dust of Snow paper in my last envie from i {heart} papers, and I just had to use it. My photos are not so great. I couldn't get good shots of these pages to save my life. Trust me though, this paper is to die for! The snowflakes are beautiful, and about half of them have glitter on them, so the pages sparkle. It's gorgeous in real life! I also got the coordinating Alpine Frost Die Cuts to accentuate the photos. I used some Accent Pearls here and there on random snowflakes and embellishments, and voila! A layout is born!

I really do apoligize for the photo quality on these. I took dozens of pictures in all different kinds of lighting, and just couldn't capture the beauty of the pages for anything. The red in the paper is very similar to SU's Riding Hood Red. Almost identical, in fact. The green that you see behind the photo's is SU's Kiwi Kiss, and it is a perfect match for the green that is in some of the embellishments.

Here is the left side of the layout:


And here is the right side of the layout:

Here are a few close-ups.

That's me with my gramma... :o)

I like how my sweater matches the paper. I totally planned that. Ha ha! Just kidding.

And no, my photos aren't this washed out in real life. I had to play with the brightness of these pics in Photoshop to get the papers to show up right... it kinda messed with the photos as a result. If anyone has any tips on how to take good pics of 12x12 pages, I'd love to hear them!

If you haven't already purchased your holiday papers, this is a great time to get them. Kate still has a great selection of Christmas/winter papers in stock, and you'll be all set when your photos come in. And while you're at it, check out these ghost shapes. I never saw them before she started carrying them. How stinkin' cool are those? Think of the possibilities. I'm thinking I might have to get some of the hearts to use on my Valentine's cards. I can just see them edged in chunky pink glitter, can't you?

Before I let you go for today, I have to also tell you that my friend Kim over at Crafts by Kim is having a huge blog candy give away. Check it out! Kim is a fellow Wisconsinite, and one of these days we're going to meet, I tell ya! Probably at a stamping store, right Kim? ;o)

i {heart} paper supplies:

Dusting of Snow paper
Alpine Frost Die Cuts
Accent Pearls

Other Supplies:

Tarnished Brads (The Paper Studio from Hobby Lobby)
SU! Narrow White Organdy Ribbon

Simply The Best...

Simply the best is such a fitting title for today's post, because I have some of THE. BEST. news to share with you! I am sooooo excited to tell you that I was chosen to be part of the design team for Pink Cat Studio. OMG. There are no words. Seriously. Did you see the other DT members? I feel like people look at the list and automatically start singing, "one of these things is not like the others..." when they get to my name. lmbo! Ok, so maybe it's not quite that drastic, but you know what I mean, right?

Here's the DT list for 2009:

Becky Carafa http://www.lakeshorestamper.com/
Janna Hull http://www.stampspaperglitterohmy.blogspot.com/
Jodi Ann Lee http://www.inkedinspirations.blogspot.com/
Lauren Meader http://laurenm.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
Lise Roy http://liseroy.blogspot.com/
Maria Bell http://stampininspirations.blogspot.com/
Mariska van der Veer http://www.sendingyoualittlesmile.blogspot.com/
Nikki Fairbairn http://www.bunny-zoes.blogspot.com/
Sarah Anderson http://scrampinmama.blogspot.com/ (OMG. That's ME!)
Vicki Garret http://www.summerthymestudio.blogspot.com/

*big ol' goofy happy dance*

(we're talking the "running man" here, people! *snort*)

I can't wait to show you their A.DOR.A.BLE. new releases just in time for Valentine's Day. You'll love them. I promise.

And speaking of new releases, check out this cute set from Artistic Outpost. I saw this and a few other new releases posted on my friend Debby's blog this morning, and wouldn't you know it... I just HAD to pop over to AO and buy the dang thing. I hate it when that happens, but I think I've mentioned before that I'm a sucker for a retro image.

Finally, I have another Bellaholics Anonymous sketch challenge to share with you! Here is the sketch for this month:

And here is my take on it:

This card caused me nothing but grief tonight. UGH. I had the whole card almost done, and was sitting there with my crimson copic marker doing a little outlining on the cape. I started telling my dh about something, and looked down to see that the damn marker was DRIPPING on my image! WTH?! I was soooooo ticked. It wouldn't have been so bad if I actually owned the stamp, but I don't. I received two images of it from a swap I was in awhile back, and now they are both gone. I had to cut one out to piece it over the other, and had to color in a little darker under her arm than I would have liked to to compensate. I would have just started a different card, but I just didn't have the time tonight and I knew I wouldn't be getting back to my stamping room until late Saturday, so this had to suffice. I hate it when that happens.

Anyhow, if you play along with the sketch, be sure to link your creation up here for a chance to win a little prize from me!

Happy Stamping!

Holiday Pretzel Rings

I thought I'd share one of our favorite (and super easy) recipes with you today, since this is what I was working on tonight instead of stamping! I have no idea what these are officially supposed to be called, but I call them Pretzel Rings. You'll need the following ingredients (ring shaped pretzels, peanut m&ms, hershey kisses):



Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Arrange a single layer of pretzel rings on a baking sheet:

Place a Hershey kiss inside each ring:

Place pan in oven, and leave in for exactly 3 minutes. The chocolate should be kind of shiny like this when you take it out. If you leave it in too long the chocolate will re-set and not be pliable. It's the strangest thing.

Push a peanut m&m into the center of each kiss, pushing down enough so that the kiss pushes all the way out to all sides of the pretzel ring. When you push down, you might feel a little resistance at the bottom of a kiss or two where they didn't melt all the way through, but that's ok.

Once I have all of my m&m's in place, I move the pan to the porch so it can cool quickly. You could also stick it in the fridge or freezer if you live somewhere warm. I usually have two pans going at once. By the time the second pan is ready to go outside, the first pan is ready to come in. The candies are pretty easy to pop off the cookie sheet with a spatula.

I would not normally go out of my way for any of these three ingredients, but I love them when they're all combined. It's the perfect combination of salty and sweet. I made these for a cookie/candy exchange I'm doing with some girlfriends this weekend, but I bought another bag of dark chocolate kisses to make for us next week. Yum!

I used almost three bags of kisses (all but about 10 of them) to one bag of pretzels and that made roughly 200 candies.

If you decide to try it, let me know how you liked them. :)

Stop back tomorrow to see this month's Bellaholics Anonymous Sketch Challenge!

Trim The Tree

I have been trying to get my Christmas cards done and mailed, and have been having a heck of a time with them. Everything that could go wrong, has. I was complaining about it on a thread a chat on over at SCS and one of the gals said I reminded her of that disgruntled 12 Days of Christmas song (if you've never heard it, click the link and listen - it's hilarious...).

Anyhow, that made me laugh, and it also reminded of this stamp, so I had to dust it off and use it! Today is a Belli Challenge day, and this week's challenge is to make something with a Christmas theme Yesterday was a CBC Challenge day, and this week's challenge is dots, so I combined the two to come up with this! Here's a close up of Ziggy, isn't he ca-ute?



Here's the whole card:

The colors are Garden Green, Ruby Red, Not Quite Navy, and Summer Sun. I colored him with my copics, and tried to get as many dots in as possible. I used the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder, doodled dots around the sentiment, and used 5 brads (they look like dots, right?). The dot in the star is from SU's fire brads collection. The stamps is called Tree Lighting and is made by Stampendous. The sentiment is by PSX. The little paperclip on the side is from the office supply aisle at Target, and I have some of SU's (retired) narrow white organdy ribbon and IHP's metallic silver string tied around it.

So are you all ready for Christmas? I have the decorating done, but I need to make some candy this week for a treat exchange I participate in each year. I also want to get some cut out cookies made. If anyone has a recipe for a cut out cookie that holds its shape when cooked, and comes out soft like what you get in the bakery, I would love to try it! I also need to finish up some Christmas shopping... There's always something to do! Once that's all done, I can start to think about what I'll serve for Christmas breakfast. We're hosting Christmas Eve here for the entire family, and Christmas breakfast for my immediate family. I love having people over, so I'm looking forward to it!

Oh, and in case you didn't read to the bottom of yesterday's post, you can see some pictures of my tree and other decorations on my family blog.

Enjoy the day!

Limelight Winner!

Thanks to everyone who played along with yesterday's challenge!

Here are the answers:

1.) Silent Night, holy night, all is calm, all is _BRIGHT_.
2.) Oh little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee _LIE_.
3.) Sing, choirs of angels, sing in _EXULTATION_, Sing, all ye citizens of Heaven above!
4.) The cattle are lowing the poor baby wakes, but little Lord Jesus no _CRYING_ he makes.
5.) I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus, underneath the _MISTLETOE_that night.
6.) I'll have a blue Christmas, without you. I'll be so blue, just thinking about you. Decorations of red, on a _GREEN_ Christmas tree, won't be the same dear if you're not here with me.
7.) Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the feast of _STEPHEN_.
8.) Mary did you know, that your _BABY_ boy would someday walk on water?
9.) Me, I'll be just fine and dandy, Lord it's like a hard _CANDY_ Christmas...
10.) Santa looked a lot like daddy, or daddy looked a lot like him! It's not the way I had him pictured - Santa was much too _THIN_.
11.) Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell __ROCK_. Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time.
12.) Hark how the bells, __SWEET_ silver bells, all seem to say throw cares away.
13.) I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, with every Christmas ___CARD____ I write.
14.) Grandma got run over by a reindeer, _WALKING_ home from our house Christmas Eve.
15.) Oh Holy night, the stars are brightly shining, it is the night of the _DEAR_ Savior's birth.

Someone asked if #9 was a Dolly Parton song. :o) Yes, it is! It's called Hard Candy Christmas. It's one of my favorites!

Of all the entries, only 8 people got all of the answers right (a lot of people were hung up on #14, answering "coming" instead of "walking"). I listed the names of people as I scored their answers and numbered those who got all of the answers right, then I went to random.org to pick a number and the person with the corresponding number won the prize.....

Congratulations to Karen (SCS: Jusgottastamp)!!

Everyone who entered will also be entered in a grand prize drawing at the end of the contest, so stay tuned! There's still a chance to win!

That's all I have for today, but be sure to check back tomorrow for a combined CBC/Belli challenge card, and click over to my family blog if you'd like to see my Christmas tree!

Deck the Halls

I love this time of year. As crazy and as hectic as it is, I just love the feel of Christmas, the warmth of the holiday (despite the chill in the air!) and the feeling of peace that comes with remembering the true meaning of the day. I love to sing Christmas carols, and make Christmas cookies, and go to candlelit church services, and sit in a room where the only light is coming from a massive Christmas tree. It all makes me feel happy and cozy and content.

When I was a child, decorating for Christmas was a big deal. I can remember my mom would pick a day at random in early December and surprise me by waking me up late and telling me she had called in to tell them I wasn't coming to school that day. I was staying home so we could decorate for Christmas together. We'd listen to Christmas music all day... Elvis, The Statler Brothers, Perry Como, and Andy Williams. I still play the same music when I decorate. And just like mom, I decorate the whole house. We pack away almost all of our every day knick knacks and exchange them for Christmas-y ones. Here are some of my favorites...

We have two of these little alcoves in our living room. This year I used one to display some of my Charming Tails collection, as well as the new Peanuts stuff my mom bought me for Christmas last year (I love Snoopy!). I also collect vintage Christmas stuff, like the elf boot you see here. Lefton is one of my favorite companies. If you aren't familiar, search eBay for "vintage Lefton Christmas" and feel free to purchase anything you see and tuck it under my Christmas tree this year. ;o)

This plate was made by a former co-worker. I love the folk-y snowman, and the red background. The candleholder has been with me since childhood.

This church used to sit on my great-grandma's big console tv set every Christmas. It has a light inside, and it is beautiful the way the light shines through the stained glass windows.

Here are our stockings (don't worry, it's a fake fireplace!). Some of the gals I talk to online like to get everything matching. Not me! I like that our stockings are as unique as we are. The Disney stocking is mine (big Goofy fan), the middle one is hubby's (this is the guy who only wanted a plain gold band for a wedding ring - how fitting that he also picked a plain red stocking), and the fire truck is Henry's. I picked that for him on a whim last year, but it couldn't be more perfect! I tried to order one for Jack this year, but the only one I found that I liked was sold out, so I'll wait for next year and make sure to buy earlier...

And here is my tree. It's 9 ft., with about 12-1300 white lights on it, and a beautiful snowflake star that you can't really make out in the photo. It's filled (and I do mean FILLED) with dozens of ornaments. Some are new, some are old, some are hand made, some are plastic, some are glass, all of them have special memories that go right along with them.

Near the bottom left of this pic, you see a Scotty dog angel ornament - in memory of my friend Pepper. In the middle of the far right you'll see a Santa made from a shotgun shell (I also have a snowman!). That was made by a (different) former co-worker. I love it! The blue ornament in the middle hung on my grandma's tree when I was a kid.

The pink ornament with hearts (right side, center) was also from grandma's tree.... as is the mouse peeking over the North Pole sign just to the left of it. You can also see a Goofy ornament (one of about 10) near the bottom left.

Near the center of this pic you'll see a turquoise foil wrapped gift ornament. That's from my mom's tree when I was a kid. She had a whole set of them, and I loved them so much, so she gave them to me. Awww! Down from that you'll see a green bell from great-grandma's tree, and to the right of that, a Charlie Brown ornament that I painted when I was about 7 years old. I gave it to my great-Uncle back then (1983) and he hung it in the window on a string until two years ago when I hosted the family Christmas. He brought it with him, and hung it on my tree (Double awwwww!). I don't normally leave strings on ornaments, but that one had to stay.

Here you have a small santa bell, that was a gift from my bff when he traveled to Mexico (you soooo didn't think I kept that, did you?!), an antique ornament from great-grandma's tree in the middle, and a glittery snowman, who was a gift from a friend.

There you have it! I could have shared more, but I didn't want to overwhelm you! Maybe I'll post a few more pics over the next few weeks, if anyone is interested.

Meanwhile, enjoy the season and like the sign said in front of a church I passed today.... It's OK to say MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Limelight Challenge!

As I mentioned on a previous post, I agreed to help out Mandy over at Limelight Papercrafts with her 12 Days of Christmas challenges. The winner of today's challenge will win this super cute Fleeting Dragonfly stamp made by Unity Stamp Co. We're going to have a little Christmas song trivia today. Below you'll find lyrics from some of my favorite Christmas songs. Your job is to fill in the blank. No points will be taken off for spelling!Email your answers to me at scrampinmama at gmail dot com (don't post them as a comment!), and the person with the most correct answers will win the stamp! Remember, this is a test of your memory...not your ability to use a search engine! *wink* See what you remember on your own. :o) If there is a tie, the winner will be determined by a random drawing.

(Oh, and please note that I don't use that email address regularly, so it isn't a good means of contact to reach me at after the contest is over.)

Good luck!

1.) Silent Night, holy night, all is calm, all is __________.

2.) Oh little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee ________.

3.) Sing, choirs of angels, sing in __________, Sing, all ye citizens of Heaven above!

4.) The cattle are lowing the poor baby wakes, but little Lord Jesus no _________ he makes.

5.) I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus, underneath the ___________ that night.

6.) I'll have a blue Christmas, without you. I'll be so blue, just thinking about you. Decorations of red, on a ________ Christmas tree, won't be the same dear if you're not here with me.

7.) Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the feast of ___________.

8.) Mary did you know, that your _______ boy would someday walk on water?

9.) Me, I'll be just fine and dandy, Lord it's like a hard _______ Christmas...

10.) Santa looked a lot like daddy, or daddy looked a lot like him! It's not the way I had him pictured - Santa was much too _________.

11.) Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell _______. Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time.

12.) Hark how the bells, _______ silver bells, all seem to say throw cares away.

13.) I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, with every Christmas _______ I write.

14.) Grandma got run over by a reindeer, _________ home from our house Christmas Eve.

15.) Oh Holy night, the stars are brightly shining, it is the night of the ______ Savior's birth.

Be sure to check back here and on Mandy's blog tomorrow to see who the winner is! You can also go to Mandy's blog for links to the blogs that are hosting the remaining giveaways!

Bigger The Better

Today is day 10 of the 12 Days of Christmas challenges over at PaperCraft Planet (PCP). I fully intended to play along for most of the days, but life took control and as a result this is the only one I've done. The tenth day of Christmas is all about lords a leapin' ;o) so the challenge was to use a man or boy on your card. I used this super cute little guy from the Sweet n' Sassy Stamps set called Winter Fun. The sentiment is by Whipper Snapper, and the DP is Christmas Cheer Trees from i {heart} papers. I wish more of the DP was showing. It has a beautiful vintage look to it.

Sweet n' Sassy Stamps is sponsoring day 10 (today) of the PCP contest, so be sure to play along! Post your creation on PCP, and you might just be today's winner!