My apologies to Steffi S. for taking so long to get this picture posted!  Honestly, in all the commotion of this past week (Thanksgiving, house guests, and then ultimately getting snowed in with day after day of no electricity), I totally forgot I’d intended to post this picture!  But thank you, Steffi, for the reminder!  🙂

Steffi made these darling books as gifts for friends during her Christmas Card Club sessions with me this year.  (In addition to stamping  2 designs of Holiday cards, as well!)  These books are the Stampin’ Up!(r) chipboard art journals, and feature several of Stampin’ Up!’s Designer Papers, ribbon, and chipboard letters.  [Images copyright 1990-2006 Stampin’ Up!(r)]

Aren’t they adorable?!?  An ambitious project, for sure, but proof that such projects can be accomplished by scheduling the time to work, and then doing it!  That’s one of the advantages of joining and attending my Christmas Card Club work sessions – you can actually turn your "good intentions" into "reality"! 

(If you’d like to hear about next year’s Christmas Card Club and other upcoming classes and events, be sure to sign up for my free emailed newsletter.  There’s a sign-up box in the upper left-hand corner of this page.)

Send me a Christmas card (or other December seasonal card) made with Stampin’ Up!(r) products, and I’ll post it here for the world to see!  Watch my album in the sidebar, and when your card shows up, you can send the link to your friends so they’ll see that your artwork is PUBLISHED!  🙂

Remember the one rule though: your card must be made with Stampin’ Up! products – either current or retired. 

Ok – I’m watching my mailbox for your special card to show up! 

This just in! 

Due to popular demand, Stampin’ Up!(r) has *just* announced that the hugely popular Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon from the 2006 Holiday Mini Catalog will NOT be discontinued as of Nov. 30 (when that mini catalog retires), but instead, will continue as an active item through the end of the main catalog year – June 30, 2007!  Hip, Hip, Hurray!!!  This includes all 3 colors shown on page 5 of the Holiday Mini Catalog – Cranberry Crisp, True Thyme, and Vintage Violet.  Through November 30th, you can see those colors here – go to page 5.  (Link may or may not work after Nov. 30.) 

You may wish to make a note of this in your current Stampin’ Up!(r) Idea Book & Catalog – and then keep your Holiday Mini tucked inside for easy reference.

Oh goodie, goodie, goodie!  Yesterday I got to peek at Stampin’ Up!(r)’s upcoming Sell-a-Bration 2007 stamp sets!  Well, actually, there are 5 limited edition stamp sets and a limited edition Simply Scrappin'(r) kit this time around!  All very fun, as always – and of course I need ’em ALL, lol.  I can hardly wait till January to start sharing ’em!  🙂

This Nov. Stamp-a-Stack Make & Take was closely modeled after a design by Michele Laycock. (See her original here.)  I am always charmed by Michele’s lovely designs. 

Doesn’t that Aida Cloth background look totally real?!?  I noticed that the ladies at my SAS all had to reach out and run their fingers over it to assure themselves that in fact it’s really just stamped cardstock!  What a kick! 

Well I just learned this morning that the outfit that supports the slideshow software I was using is associated with a website I’d rather not have connected to mine.  And *you* probably wouldn’t have wanted to inadvertently get directed off in that direction if you clicked on my slideshow of stamped samples, either.  So I have decided to remove that software – just to be safe.

You can read more about the concern on John Sanpietro’s site at: http://stampingismybusiness.typepad.com/blog/2006/11/slidecom_warnin.html

My first poll has been concluded, and thank you to those of you who voted in it!  The question I had posed was "How many Christmas Cards or other December Holiday cards will you be stamping this year?"  And here are the results:  None (12.5%), 1 – 10 (25%), 11 – 25 (0%), 26 – 50 (12.5%), 51-100 (37.5%), 100+ (12.5%).  While certainly far from scientific, it appears that several of you intend to make more than 25 cards this year! 

Now, please vote in my new poll – which asks how many times you have visited my new site?  Don’t forget to click the "Cast your vote" button at the bottom to register your vote!  Thanks much! 

Lynda

Ok, I promised a hint at this coming Monday’s "Simple Gifts and Stocking Stuffers" rubber stamping class I’m leading through the South Whidbey Community Education.  Easy enough to do a whole pile, this is a darling CD holder (adapted from an original design by Cambria Turnbow); front and back, but not the inside, are shown in these pictures.  It’s done in pink and brown – very fun, trendy colors right now.  Doesn’t it just make ya smile?!?  🙂 

I just received my December issue of Country Living Magazine, and spied yet another fun use of Stampin’ Up!(r) stamps…… to decorate Christmas cookies!  Check out the "pretties" – on page 140!

Here’s another card from last weekend’s Stamp-a-Stacks.  The basic concept is a take-off of a card shared by my 3rd-level upline, Sandy, and is quite quick and easy to make.  The image is stamped with a Jumbo Stampin’ Around(R) wheel, and Pearl-Ex powders provide a fascinating iridescent shimmer (which unfortunately doesn’t really show in a scan).

To hear about upcoming classes and events, please be sure to sign up for my free emailed newsletter.  (It’s easy!  Just click the button opposite my picture.)  And keep an eye on my Calendar of Events, too.