happy new year!

(If you're here for the Year In Review Blog Hop, scroll down)

Top 10 YouTube Videos of 2011

(If you're here for the Year In Review Blog Hop, scroll down)

I'll not repost the YouTube videos here but point you toward the link that the kind folkes at Website Magazine posted earlier this evening ... take a look at the most watched YouTube ads from 2011 here: Best of 2011 - Viral Video Ads (I LOVE The Force - VW and Samsung - Unleash Your Fingers videos ... how 'bout you?).

Top 10 Trendiest Stamp Sets of 2011

(If you're here for the Year In Review Blog Hop, scroll down)

Oooh! A year end list that's stamp-related?! Here's the Top 10 Trendiest Stamp Sets of 2011 compliments of Moxie Fab World. Visit her blog to vote on your 3 favs ... there's blog candy involved!

Fun{tache}tic from The Craft's Meow

Wonderful World by Lizzie Anne Designs

Farm Fresh from Ippity by Unity

Road Trip from Papertrey Ink

Perfect Pennants by Gina K. Designs

Hey Girlfriend from Cosmo Cricket by Unity

Life is Good by Technique Tuesday

940140 by Ruby Violet from Prima

Clear to See from Lawn Fawn

Say Cheese from Maya Road

a year in review blog hop

In keeping with the spirit of the season, Karin of With an "i" For Paper! blog fame has started a year in review blog hop to look back and high some of your favorite projects from the past year. Being the queen of lists, this was right up my alley, don't you know?! And so ... my fav cards of this year follow:



January - OWL37 meets CAS102 - Brrr!


February - Simply Sublime


March - Beautiful Day


April - Love is Just a Word ...


May - Welcome, Baby! (a case study)


June - Farewell to (Outgoing President) Stan & Angie



July - CTD151 Challenge


August - Dropping You A Line (oops! I'd never uploaded this one!)


September - For You, Friend


October - Black & White Challenge


November - Peace


December - Merry Christmas


This was a fun trip down Memory Lane! Hope you enjoyed today's post and the blog hop! There's blog candy involved, to one random commenter OR blog follower!

year end lists, part deux

I just rec'd an e-mail containing yet another year end list ...

Top 10 Highest Grossing Movies of 2011:
1) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, 2) Transformers: Dark of the Moon, 3) The Twilight Sage: Breaking Dawn - Part 1, 4) The Hangover Part II, 5) Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, 6) Fast Five, 7) Cars 2, 8) Thor, 9) Rise of the Planet of the Apes, 10) Captain America: The First Avenger

More deets at MovieTickets by Martin Grove of ZAMM.com!

variations on a theme

... an FTL170 sketch theme, that is! Needing a wedding anniversary card for this weekend, I checked into the recent sketches at Clean & Simple's Web site and remembered that I'd MEANT to make one for this sketch challenge, now past the entry deadline. No matter! I took a few liberties with their FTL170 sketch, flipping it and running the ribbon under rather than over the top card stock piece. I wanted to dry emboss to pop up the hearts for an entry into Lifestyle Crafts' I Made This contest. These are a few from my 2x2" embossing folders of Lifestyle Crafts' QuicKutz GooseBumpz embossing dies. I used to belong to a QuicKutz club at my local paper crafts store and have amassed quite the collection. Now we just have to get it delivered to my brother-in-law and his bride by Friday! Can do! The inside sentiment's PC-generated: "Anyone can catch your eye, but it takes someone special to catch your heart." and the inside heart stamp is stamped off so it's more like a watermark.

stamps: studio g's series 26 outside sentiment, basic grey's inside heart, and PC-generated inside sentiment; paper: A1 Neenah Natural White, SU's Cherry Cobbler card stocks; ink: SU's Cherry Cobbler and PC-generated; accessories: SU's Cherry Cobbler quilted satin ribbon

Lifestyle Crafts' I Made This Contest

Have you entered to win an iPad 2 yet? By participating in the I Made This Challenge, you could win an iPad 2! Upload a project to the community gallery by January 31 using at least one Lifestyle Crafts product and you could win the grand prize - a $1000 Lifestyle Crafts shopping spree, Canon 60D camera, Mac computer, and Canon Photo Printer! 'Nuff said?!

• 'I Made This' Enter to win an iPad2
• 'I Made This' challenge and ultimate giveaway

Jesus is the reason for the season

top 10 lists of 2011

I'm a list junkie ... always have been! So ... want to know what Internet users are searching for? The kind folkes at search-engine aggregator Dogpile make this process easy by combining results from Google, Yahoo, Bing and others to provide lists such as the following. Below are the top searches of 2011 (compliments of Website Magazine):

Top Ten Overall Searches:
1) Facebook, 2) YouTube, 3) NFL, 4) American Idol, 5) iPad, 6) iPhone, 7) Kim Kardashian, 8) Justin Bieber, 9) Casey Anthony trial, 10) Powerball

Top Ten Social Networking Sites:
1) Facebook, 2) YouTube, 3) Flickr, 4) Twitter, 5) LinkedIn, 6) MySpace, 7) Tagged, 8) Google +, 9) Meetup.com, 10) Orkut

Top Ten Online Diversions (at work):
1) Facebook, 2) YouTube, 3) eBay, 4) Craigslist, 5) Amazon, 6) TMZ, 7) Drudge Report, 8) Match.com, 9) Pogo, 10) Skype

Top Ten Retail Websites:
1) Walmart, 2) Home Depot, 3) Lowes, 4) Best Buy, 5) Sears, 6) Target, 7) Costco, 8) Kohls, 9) Staples, 10) Kmart

Top Ten Tech Gadgets:
1) iPad, 2) iPhone, 3) Xbox, 4) Kindle, 5) iPod Touch, 6) Nook, 7) Blackberry, 8) Touchpad, 9) PlayStation, 10) Android

Top Ten Online Games:
1) Angry Birds, 2) Webkinz, 3) Minecraft, 4) Mahjong, 5) Sudoku, 6) Runescape, 7) Farmville, 8) Solitaire, 9) Chess, 10) Poker

Top Ten News Stories:
1) Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, 2) Casey Anthony trial, 3) Hurricane Irene, 4) Occupy Wall Street, 5) Libya Battle of Tripoli/Muammar Gaddafi, 6) Royal Wedding, 7) Death of Steve Jobs, 8) Arizona/Gifford Shooting, 9) Death of Osama Bin Laden, 10) End of U.S. War in Iraq

Top Ten TV News and Talk Radio Shows:
1) CNN News, 2) FOX News, 3) Nancy Grace, 4) 60 Minutes, 5) The Howard Stern Show, 6) NBC Nightly News, 7) The Dave Ramsey Show, 8) Anderson Cooper 360, 9) The Daily Show, 10) The Rachel Maddow Show

Top Ten TV Shows:
1) American Idol, 2) Dancing with the Stars, 3) The Dr. Oz Show, 4) NCIS, 5) Glee, 6) Oprah, 7) The Today Show, 8) The Voice, 9) X Factor, 10) Big Brother

Top Ten Celebrities:
1) Kim Kardashian, 2) Justin Bieber, 3) Megan Fox, 4) Lady Gaga, 5) Katy Perry, 6) Charlie Sheen, 7) Selena Gomez, 8) Emma Watson, 9) Mila Kunis, 10) Adele

Top Ten Musicians:
1) Justin Bieber, 2) Lady Gaga, 3) Katy Perry, 4) Adele, 5) Miley Cyrus, 6) Taylor Swift, 7) Rihanna, 8) Amy Winehouse, 9) Nicki Minaj, 10) Eminem

merry Christmas, everyone!

I'm relaxing w my sweetie after having had the family up for Christmas dinner, and wanted to share a pic of this year's tree. A good time was had by all.

dinner w friends

I met up with friends for supper recently where we exchanged cards and gifts with each other. Two read my blog so I'd held off posting their cards 'til now. Here's Pat's one - she's all about pinks and I had this pretty DP with some non-traditional colors used in its Christmas trees ... perfect! And a perfect evening w friends!

stamps: SU's Christmas Greetings; paper: My Mind's Eye's be merry trim the tree DP, A1 neenah nat'l white, Su's regal rose card stocks; ink: Ranger's antique linen distress ink, SU's rose red; accessories: The Twinery's Pink Sorbet twine

peace on earth

I purchased a couple new Memory Box dies recently and used the Country Landscape one for this card, currently winging its way to my eldest brother in Virginia. A simple card of two colors - white and navy. I've seen some awesome cards made from the die in the blogosphere recently as well. We got a tiny dusting of snow the past couple days but it's supposed to reach the 40's (Fahrenheit) on Christmas day so I don't imagine we'll be seeing a white Christmas tomorrow unless I pull out some old DVDs!

stamps: Technique Tuesday's AE Good Cheer, SU's Christmas Greetings (inside), Branch Out (snow); paper: SU's Shimmery White, Not Quite Navy card stocks; ink: SU's Whisper White, Not Quite Navy; tools: Memory Box's Country Landscape die w Cuttlebug

play date cafe #112

After eats w some friends and exchanging presents, I returned home to neaten my PC desk, and this heidi swapp Christmas theme tape set was one of the things I'd left out, fully intending to make a Christmas card from it this year. So ... before putting it away, I made this quick card. THEN I started blog trolling and spotted this week's play date cafe PDCC112 inspiration and colorQ CQC116 challenges. Their colors look pretty darn close to my card, eh?! I still want to try my hand at a plaid using a new-to-me plaid stamp set I recently acquired!


stamps: SU's Christmas Greetings; paper: JoAnn's CraftEssentials' ivory A2 cards; ink: SU's Cherry Cobbler; accessories: heidi swapp's Christmas theme tapes

sweet sunday

I used this week's sweet sunday SSSC148 sketch challenge for a baby card for a friend whose niece is expecting a baby girl soon. The pretty DPs are from SU's Candy Lane collection, a DP package that I've been hoarding ... I LOVE the soft pinks and mauve-browns of this collection. We've done the "tag team" approach to babies' births in the past ... Susan makes a baby bonnet from elegant hankies to go along with the poem I place inside the card. Today's card is a 4.25" square one, so that it'll still fit into a standard A2 sized envelope. And the sentiment's PC-generated: "When a new life joins the world, new love blooms in your heart!"

stamps: JudiKins' Baby's Hands & Feet; paper: SU's Candy Lane DP, vellum and Very Vanilla card stocks; ink: PTI's Sweet Blush; tools: Marvy Uchida's extra jumbo heart punch

S&CT's winter edition's available!

hi folkes! just a quick note to let you know that the winter edition of Scrapbook & Cards Today mag is now available. You can EITHER download the digi version by clicking on the picture at left OR view the entire mag online - thanx, S&CT!

It's one of my fav scrapbook mags and Canada’s first FREE magazine dedicated to scrapbooking and card making. It showcases the latest techniques and products, presents interesting and easy-to-follow ideas and instructions, and displays beautiful photography and inspiring design. Try it, if you haven't already ~ you'll like it!

Leave a comment on their blog and you could be a lucky winner of the winter edition and some free Holiday Style from Bazzill Basic Paper!

happy b'day sue

I got together with friends for eats and entertainment this weekend to celebrate Sue's birthday. Rather than a movie, this weekend we took in a craft show at the Davison High School. Afterward we headed to Lucky's, a local steakhouse - YUM! - where I had a filet with sweet potato, sauteed onion and mushrooms, and hot bread 'n butter. At the craft show I found a really cute black wool hat ('cuz those who know me will realize I NEEDED another hat, right?!) complete with black feathers and bling for decoration, and got a cute cedar birdhouse for my sweetie. This crafty lady covers hand-made cedar bird houses with peanut butter and asst'd seed, then adds a bit of "bling" - mine's got a sprig of wheat and red berries by the entry.

Sue's favorite color is blue. Isn't it great that I had this blue 'n crumb cake card saved aside for her? I made it at a recent Stamp Camp with the lovely and talented Angie Jarman ... there's one coming up this week, if you're in the Flint MI area - see my "sites I visit" links in my blog sidebar! No deets today, as they were all supplied in class.

just a little JGNC14 Christmas note

I'm drawn to red & white Christmas cards, and this one uses mainly those colors within a 6x6" pad of DP I purchased recently, plus a cool coordinating Santa chipboard sticker. Red & white was a repeated theme in Jay Gee's Nook latest challenge post of a collection of related pictures, and one of the DPs reminded me of one of Angeline's cards that she used a couple of t'riffic Wplus9 Design Studio stamps on.

stamps: PTI's Signature Christmas; paper: Authentique's Wonder collection; ink: Ranger's black soot, pumice stone distress inks; tools: Paper Shapers' round tab punch; accessories: TPC Studio's Timeless Christmas chipboard stickers

It's Beginning to Look Like An SSSC144 Christmas

Isn't this inspiration photo great?! I love the new Authentique striped patterned paper I got earlier this month; the reds and greens are just what was needed for PTI's blog hop inspiration challenge and I was pleased as all get out to see the darker reds in the DP matched my latest fav, SU's Cherry Cobbler! I've wanted to play with my number dies again, so I put that together with the latest Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge SSSC144 from the lovely and talented Karen Giron of the sweetest thing blog fame. Voila! Another Christmas card is ready! I prefer to not mass-produce but just play and make as many cards as I can for the holidays.

Sigh ... my DH shut down the PC last night when I had multiple tabs open for both challenges, and I figured that it was late so we called it a day, and I missed the deadline for the PTI challenge. Such is life!

stamps: Technique Tuesday 25 Moments (Nov 11 Studio AE); paper: Authentique's 6x6 Wonder Bundle Collection DP, A1's Neenah Natural White, SU's Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive card stocks; ink: Ranger's black soot distress ink, SU's Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive; accessories: SU's Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon

thankful for CFC29

I saw a cute Thanksgiving-related Family Circus comic this morning where the son, Jeffy (methinks), says, "Oh boy! My tummy's 'bout to be very thankful!" I used to ask my sons to tell me what one thing they were thankful for after we did bedtime prayers. They're grown now but I hope they still pause to think about what they're thankful for, at least on Thanksgiving Day! It's not all about the dinner ... which was fantastic and I'm very grateful for, btw! grins ...

Today's card is based on CAS-ual Fridays' CFC29 sketch. I'm hooked on sketches, and these folkes are one of my go-to spots for them. I have this printable in both color and b&w, and had this one printed out already so it was a super quick card to pull together. The sentiment stamp's a new one from the kind folkes at Technique Tuesday.

stamps: Technique Tuesday's Give Thanks by Ali Edwards (studio AE's Oct 2011 stamp set of the month); paper: A1's Natural White, SU's Chocolate Chip card stocks; ink: SU's Chocolate Chip; accessories: Everything Creative's Giving Thanks printable

happy thanksgiving

and happy b'day to my stampin' buddy Pat, as they both fall on the same day this year! I've been a slacker lately and didn't get cards for Thanksgiving made so sent some of my fav e-cards from the lovely and talented Jacquie Lawson's site.

But I digress ... today's card is based on Clean & Simple Stamping's FTL165 sketch. I had the DP in my stash and the sentiment and a couple of the leaves were from a new stamp set while another leaf is from an SU stamp set I got last year. Isn't it interesting how similar they are? The band of orange is from the reverse of this 2-sided DP, and I cut and popped up the largest of the leaves.

We're back home now, but spent a good part of this afternoon at my sister's home. We had a nice sit-down dinner consisting of turkey, stuffing, whole cranberry sauce, hash brown casserole, green bean casserole, rolls, cider, eggnog, and ambrosia fruit salad for dessert. Rumor had it that there was pumpkin pie and whipped cream as well, but I was stuffed! Everything was great, and my compliments to the chefs, not to mention great company too!

My usual custom is to watch Miracle on 34th Street on Thanksgiving and I've pulled out the b&w version of the 1947 movie to watch this evening. I have this movie in both b&w and colorized DVD versions (tho' I couldn't locate the colorized version today ... I prefer the 1947 b&w one), and have a 1994 version of the movie in color on VHS tape. My DH and I keep our DVDs in the living room, while the boys keep theirs in their own rooms; however, my eldest son keeps raiding our stash and we have to hunt down movies occasionally!

stamps: SU's Falling Leaves, There She Goes' Autumn; paper: Paper Loft's Autumn DP, Staples' white card stock; ink: SU's Close to Cocoa, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, and Really Rust

Thanksgiving Day Proclamation

By the United States in Congress assembled,
PROCLAMATION.

It being the indispensable duty of all nations, not only to offer up their supplications to Almighty God, the giver of all good, for His gracious assistance in a time of distress, but also in a solemn and public manner, to give Him praise for His goodness in general, and especially for great and signal interpositions of His Providence in their behalf; therefore, the Unites States in Congress assembled, taking into their consideration the many instances of Divine goodness to these States in the course of the important conflict, in which they have been so long engaged, – the present happy and promising state of public affairs, and the events of the war in the course of the year now drawing to a close; particularly the harmony of the public Councils which is so necessary to the success of the public cause, – the perfect union and good understanding which has hitherto subsisted between them and their allies, notwithstanding the artful and unwearied attempts of the common enemy to divide them, – the success of the arms of the United States and those of their allies, – and the acknowledgment of their Independence by another European power, whose friendship and commerce must be of great and lasting advantage to these States; Do hereby recommend it to the inhabitants of these States in general, to observe and request the several states to interpose their authority, in appointing and commanding the observation of THURSDAY the TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY OF NOVEMBER next as a day of SOLEMN THANKSGIVING to GOD for all His mercies; and they do further recommend to all ranks to testify their gratitude to God for His goodness by a cheerful obedience to His laws and by promoting, each in his station, and by his influence, the practice of true and undefiled religion, which is the great foundation of public prosperity and national happiness.

~ Done in Congress at Philadelphia, the eleventh day of October, in the year of our LORD, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two, and of our Sovereignty and Independence, the seventh.

picture credit: Norman Rockwell's Freedom from Want (a.ka. Thanksgiving Dinner, the third installment of Rockwell's famous Four Freedoms series)

I love a parade!

Flint MI happenings ~ The 3rd Annual Flint DDA Holiday Festival is on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011 from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The parade is scheduled for 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., and will start at North Saginaw Street and 2nd Avenue, then go south down to South Saginaw Street and 4th Street. There will be Holiday lights, choirs, musical entertainment, marching bands from area schools, live reindeer, carriage rides and Santa will be on hand to pose for pictures with children.

Kettering University's crew has been hard at work on a float to participate in the parade. Last Friday the crew delivered styrofoam balls (mind you, 16" in circumference!) to departments, asking that those interested make ornaments for the tree on the float. Here's my contribution, a ribbon fold ornament. It took 36' of ribbon - in as close as I could get to our school colors, natch' - and about 400 straight pins. My DH cut the ribbon for me. Good thing, 'cuz we started on this right after supper and I'm just now finished, at 11:30 p.m.! Whew! These fingers are SORE!

celebrate this december day

I finally succumbed to temptation and became a studio AE member at Technique Tuesday. This sentiment's from the November set, which is awesome and looks like it'd be great put to use if you're attempting one of her December Daily scrapbook projects. I'm not sure what I think of today's card ... I'll have to try a simpler version later on. Sometimes I have to repeat the mantra - keep it simple - and I didn't do that here, LOL! This one's based on Clean & Simple Stamping's FTL 167 sketch challenge.

stamps: AE's 25 Moments (Nov 11 Studio AE); paper: A1 Neenah Natural White, SU's Cherry Cobbler (LOVE that red!) and Chocolate Chip card stocks; ink: SU's Chocolate Chip; tools: Fiskar's Threading Water border punch, Cuttlebug w Cuttlebug's Snowflakes embossing folder, MFT's Let It Snowflake die-namic, and QuicKutz's No. 73 Number Set

how I spent my mini vac wk - pt 2

I'm participating in a Mini Mystery Monday Project by the lovely and talented Laura Perin of Laura Perin Designs fame - available at her Two-Handed Stitcher blog. I've not stitched in ages, and when I spotted that she would be offering a mystery project, uploading a portion of the design's instructions on Mondays, it sucked me right in! I love Laura's needlepoint designs. In fact, when I went in search of my usual and customary needlework tools, in the bag WITH them was another of her designs ... so I should use some of my time off to pick up additional supplies for my NEXT project!

This pic represents two weeks' worth of instructions and I finished my last block this a.m. I kept pretty much to the colors she used - the watercolour and green perle, and switched the red perle and metallic ribbon. We'll see how I end up finishing it ... and whether I get it finished in time to add to this year's tree, LOL! We don't want to start talking about the amount of unfinished projects I have. Let's just say that I'll have plenty to keep me occupied when I decide to retire!

supplies: Caron's Watercolours in 047 camouflage, DMC's #5 perle cotton in 319 very dark pistachio green and 902 very dark garnet, and Rainbow Gallery's Fyre Werks FT15 old gold - all on an ecru #18 canvas (my camera seems to have over compensated as it looks white in the pic, don't you agree? ... next week I'll make sure to use natural light for my pic!)

how I spent my mini vac wk - pt 1

Hi folkes! I took a few days off work this week, thinking I'd watch the President's Cup w my sweetie, and as I'd been pretty much on the go this past weekend (... but that's another post). I'd not realized that it would be on TV here starting at 9 p.m. EST, LOL, as it's being played in Melbourne Australia! We'll end up watching Day 1 on Thursday (it's being repeated on the Golf Channel from 9a-1:30p), and Day 2 will be telecast a bit earlier, from 7:30p-2a on Thursday. So much for my planning ahead, eh?!

I picked up a few new dies from Impress Rubber Stamps recently. This is the first one used for a Christmas card tho' it would make a nice masculine card as well, as my stampin' buddy Pat pointed out. As I ended up not watching golf, we got together for a bit. After lunching w friends, while she was borrowing my Zutter I put this quick card together. It'd be great for mass-produced Christmas cards as it was relatively simple and quick to make, but I've never been one for mass production. I just make cards as I see fit, and try to fit them to the receiver. This one struck us as peaceful, hence the sentiment. I wish I could capture just how beautiful that dark blue card stock is; you've gotta see it IRL - it's much more subtle than glitter card stock and is IMHO simply gorgeous!

stamps: StampingFreak's peace, PTI's Signature Christmas (inside) sentiments; ink: CTMH's Outdoor Denim; paper: PTI's Night Sky Shimmer, Staples' white card stocks; tools: Memory Box's Deer Trio die

stamp camp fav

It was a tough call, as all the cards in the lovely and talented Angie's most recent Stamp Camp (see my sidebar's "Sites I Visit - Stampin' Up! - Angie J") were delish, but this is my personal fav! If you're in the Flint MI area, I highly recommend you check her out! Tell her Sue sent ya, and that she should pass on a finders' fee to me in the way of discounted stamps, LOL!

If I didn't already have another vendor's stocking and die already, this set would've come home with me in a heartbeat!

stamps: SU's Stitched Stockings, (dunno sentiment stamp); tools: SU's Stocking Builder Punch - both from holiday mini catty and available thru January 3, 2012

Awww ... missed it AGAIN!

It ended with,
"What we're trying to say with this little rhyme, is ...
'We're returning to Standard Time.'"

I'm a fan of the CBS show Sunday Morning and I'd just broken away from my weekly Quicken updates on the PC to settle in to watch my favorite show. I KNEW they'd be commenting on the switch from daylight to standard time, but assumed as I'd missed the first half hour of the show, that I'd missed that portion. Last year I searched in vain for the cute ditty/rhyme they used to commemorate the occasion. Here I go again! I'll update this if I find it but assume I won't ... sigh ...

I'm not a regular reader of the paper and hadn't read yet that Andy Rooney passed away this past weekend. Here's a clip:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7387244n&tag=mncol;lst;3