'Jingle All the Way'

Here is a pretty Christmas card that everyone joining me for my October monthly classes got to make.  I always love black & white cards.....and this designer paper is beautiful!!

AND this card is also one that you can choose for my Annual Christmas Card Class too!  

stamp set: 'Jingle All The Way'
card stock:  Basic Black, Whisper White
designer paper:  Winter Wonderland Specialty Designer Paper
ink: Basic Black Archival
other:  Big Shot, Sleigh Ride Edgelits Dits, Iced Rhinestone Embellishments, Whisper White 1/4" Cotton Ribbon, dimensionals, glue dots

+++++

Oh my gosh....we were all exhausted last night.  We were on the go the whole day yesterday!  Baby piggies, a new dog- Cocoa & everything else.  We were on the go 100 mph all day long. 

The shelter ladies were in awhh over the boys & their love of animals & warmth towards Cocoa.  They took pictures to publish on their website.  I had tears when Trey was hugging & lovin on Cocoa.  She is so sweet.  And still very much a hyper puppy!  We have some work ahead of us to get her to calm down & mellow out.  I took her on a walk around the farm & she is very curious.  She didn't care for the piggies- she was afraid of them.  She isn't sure about our outdoor cats.....but I bet they end up sleeping together within a few weeks.  I was very impressed with the Noah's Ark Shelter in Fairfield.  Some day the boys & I are going to go down to just visit & see all of the animals.  It was very clean, open & very much live a home.  Not at all what I had pictured in my mind.  They obviously love their pets & it definitely shows.  

Brayden was in heaven last night with a new dog & getting to ride with papa in the tractor last night.  

I burnt the midnight oil working on stamping stuff & Deke burnt it working in the field again. 

This morning I'm off to pick up the boys.  We'll run Brayden to school & then come home to spend the day outside getting to know Cocoa better & getting her use to us & living here.  Right now she is tied up on a long cable so that she can get onto the porch, play in the yard & still sleep in her dog house......but I don't want her tied up for too long.  So now we have to train her to stay here & have me not have to worry about where she is or her getting hurt.  We have an invisible line & shock color in our yard......so will work on training her with it in a week or so. 

Tonight will be the same old broken record around here.....I'll be stamping late & Deke will be working in the field late.

I hope you have a FABULOUS Friday!!
Happy Stamping!
Hugs-
SUSIE

Meet Cocoa!! She is a new addition to uur family! WE adopted her this afternoon!

Here are the cards for my upcoming Christmas Card Stamp-a-Stack!

Check out all of these cards!  You can come make any of them with me on Saturday, November 14, 2015 at our home!  I have lots of choices for you to choose from this year.  Some of them are cards that we've made at my monthly September & October classes too!  

EMAIL ME  if you'd like more information about this class!

Here are all of the different stamp sets/bundles that I have used to create these cards.  

 *          'Jingle All The Way' BUNDLE- Holiday Catalog- pg. 12

*          'Embellished Ornaments' BUNDLE- Holiday Catalog- pg. 15

*          'All Yea Faithful'- Holiday Catalog- pg. 20

*          'Wonderland'- Holiday Catalog- pg. 23

*          'Flurry of Wishes' BUNDLE- Holiday Catalog- pg. 25

*          'Jolly Christmas'- Holiday Catalog- pg. 27

*          'Reason for the Season'- Holiday Catalog- pg. 31

Chalked leaves.....aren't they stunning!

Here are some beautiful chalked leaves that I did.  This card was one of the 6 cards I created this month for everyone to make that joined me for my October monthly classes.  This was a really fun & easy & card.  It is just stunning in person!

I've made lots of cards using the cool stamp set of various leaves.  And they all are beautiful.....yet different in many ways!  This is a very modern stamp of leaves.  And I do love it!

Did you notice that I didn't chalk the Blackberry Bliss leaf.  I did stamp the leaf image using the Soft Suede ink onto the Blackberry Bliss card stock & cut it out with the framelit.  I should have saved the first one I did where I did use the chalk marker on it.  It just did not look good.....looked it was a mess....thus.....the Blackberry Bliss leaf became a background shadow look instead!

stamp set:  'Lighthearted Leaves'
card stock:  Thick Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Delightful Dijon, Blackberry Bliss, Whisper White
ink:  Soft Suede
other:  Big Shot, Magnetic Platform, Leaflets Framelits, 2" Circle Punch, Woodland Embossing Folder, White Chalk Marker, Gold Cording Trim, Gold Glitter Trim, Dimensionals, Glue Dots

+++++

Yesterday was a pretty much a carbon copy of our past week.....chores, meetings, boys, stamping & working in the field.  Deke & I both burnt the midnight oil working.  Sarah visited for awhile after work when she picked up Masen & then Brayden, Kimi (his mom) & little brother Jacobi stopped by to visit too.  They brought me a beautiful big rock with a dog paw print on it that says- "always in our hearts" in rememberance of Nestle.  Brayden is going to help me find a spot in our yard to keep it.  Nestle is buried behind our house....but I'm sure Deke doesn't want to mow around the stone, so we'll find a nice place in the front of house in our rock landscaping to put the big rock they brought. 

This morning I'm off to pick up the boys & head back out here to our home.  My Aunt Kathy is coming down shortly to stay at our home with Masen.  As we get more baby piggies today....so the 3 Seeley boys will head outside & be little farmers today with Papa & G'ma.  The boys are excited to get to see Joe (our feed salesman) & Josh (our truck driver- which just happens to be my 2nd cousin too).

This afternoon I'm planning a trip to the animal shelter to pick up our new dog!  And I'll be taking the 4 boys with me to meet her.  I pray that the adoption goes through or we are going to have 4 really disappointed little boys & a sad G'ma & Papa too.  The boys have all seen photos of Cocoa & I have my fingers & toes crossed she comes home with us, is a good dog & fits into our family well (which means she likes our cats & piggies too).  She has big shoes to fill following Nestle.....so we all need to be patient in training her & getting her adjusted to her new home.

Tonight is the same old routine again around here.....although Brayden is staying with us all night too.  He is super excited to get to go to the field & ride in the tractor with Papa for awhile.  As Deke will be working again until after midnight.  And I'll be burning the midnight oil stamping!  Woo hoo!

I hope you have a very special Thursday!!
Happy Stamping!
Hugs-

SUSIE

A beautiful Poinsettia card!

I wasn't sure that I really liked this poinsettia set when I first saw it in the Holiday Catalog.  But boy.....let me tell you that it is one of my favorite sets now.  I love 2 step stampin' sets & this one is just a perfect fit/layering one.  It is super easy to use & it is just beautiful when you are finished stamping.

This is one of the cards you can make for my upcoming Christmas Card class!!

I created it for Julie's Christmas Card Stack that I did last Saturday.  Check out the shadowed poinsettias stamped in Real Red ink onto the Real Red card stock.

stamp set:  'Reason for the Season'
card stock:  Real Red, Mossy Meadow, Whisper White
ink:  Basic Black Archival, Real Red, Mossy Meadow
other:  Big Shot, Stylish Stripes Embossing Folder, Circle Framelits, 2 1/2" Circle Punch, Fine Tip Glue Pen, Gold Sequins, Dimensionals

This layout is an all time 'old' favorite of mine.  And I haven't done it for quite some time.  I have ideas for another card using this layout- so be on the look out for it.

++++++

Our day yesterday was a full one.  My mom enjoyed spending time snuggling with Masen while the other 3 boys & I helped Deke on the farm enjoying/playing with our new baby piggies.  My mom stayed for awhile when we got back to the house & read books to all of the boys.  I so wish I would have gotten a picture of them all.  While she read to them I made a quick trip to town to the post office & got our wedding invites mailed out.  

After work- Sarah, Manda, Jen & I went to Sharlene's for wedding dress alterations.  We had a nice time.  It was great to see Sharlene & she is so good at what she does.  I'm thankful for her friendship & talent.  Over the years she has altered many wedding/bridesmaid dresses for me.  

When I got home from Sharlene's I spent a few hours working on farm bookwork.  I also made a quick trip to Osky to the night deposit with our hog check & picked up some groceries at Walmart.  One of the benefits of grocery shopping at 11:00 p.m. is that there aren't too many people in the store.  Worst part about it is putting away groceries at 1 in the morning.  And Deke burnt the midnight oil working the field again last night.

This morning Deke is off early to chore, go to the office & then he is headed to Mt. Pleasant for a meeting.  I'm off to pick up the boys & spend my day with them.  Tonight I'll be stamping & Deke will be working in the fields.  Gosh.....kind of a broken record isn't it.  

I hope you have a WONDERFUL Wednesday!!
Happy Stamping!
Hugs-

SUSIE

Love this!

Here is a fun photo of my dear friend LeeAnn & I at the Tuscan Theater in St. George, Utah last month!  The camera guy was sitting at the end of our row & hollered at me to look......this is the picture he captured of us.  Oh what fun times & great memories we all had together in Utah. 

Look at the My Paper Pumpkin Boxes for this month!! I can't wait for mine to arrive & see what is inside of it!

This weeks- "WEEKLY DEALS"- October 13-19th, 2015!

Nathan & Sarah's wedding invitation!

What have I been doing every spare minute I've had the past week??  I've been making 200 wedding invitations for Nathan & Sarah's upcoming wedding.  And they are FINALLY DONE!

Steven, Amanda, Sarah & Aunt Kathy have all had a little hand in helping me with them in one way or another last week.  But last night I got the belly bands on all of them, they are in their envelopes, the postage stamps & the address labels are on all of them.  And they will all be going to the post office today & to get mailed out!  Woo Hoo!!  

My very talented son-in-law Steven, designed the map (inside) & the monogram on the front on the invitation shown here.  He did them in his print shop on the computer.  

Sarah's colors are Blackberry Bliss, Crumb Cake & Very Vanilla.  And the tables at the reception will have burlap on them- so I embossed the belly band to add texture to them to go with that theme.

I used our new Trio Corner Punch on the outside flap & inside of the invitation to help add some dimension.

So what does 200 wedding invites look like?  Well- there are 100 of them shown here in the box- all ready to do.  And there are 100 of them laying on the table that I still had to finish getting finished & in the envelopes.  

++++++

Oh my....we've had a rotten week so far..... as our dear Chocolate Lab Nestle passed away yesterday.  She was between 12-14 years old.  We aren't positive how old she was when we adopted her several years ago.  It was really tough on all of us!  The passed away peacefully in her sleep.  So that is a blessing in itself.  The boys got a quick lesson in death & burying.  The twins weren't really old enough to understand it all.  I'm sure they'll have alot of questions & will still be talking about it today.  Brayden took it really hard.  Nestle was definitely part of our family & she will be greatly missed by all of us.  

Thus....my friend Katy found Nestle for us several years ago......and she's been on a hunt to help us find another family dog.  We have a few dogs we are inquiring about at local animal shelters.  I bet we'll have a new dog before the end of the week.  Nestle can't ever be replaced........but we hope to find a new addition to our family to love & enjoy for the next several years.  So I'll share our venture on dog hunting with you in the coming days.

Deke worked late in the fields.  Nathan, Sarah, Brayden & Masen were here for a bit going over wedding things.  And I then burnt the midnight oil & tried to get caught up on a few things in the house after I get the invites all done.

This morning I'm headed to town to pick up the boys.  Deke will be on the farm all day.  We are all excited that we'll be getting new baby piggies today!  My mom is coming to our home this morning to keep Masen for me & the 3 Seeley boys will be going out to farm with G'ma & Papa today.

Tonight Deke will be working the fields late again.  And Sarah, Jenn, Manda & myself are going to get dresses for the wedding altered by my friend Sharlene.  I'll then be burning the midnight oil when I get home working on stamping stuff.

I hope you have a TERRIFIC Tuesday!
Happy Stamping!
Hugs-
SUSIE 

It's another pretty snowflake card

This snowflake card is one of my Christmas Card Class cards.  It is similar to a card I made for a swap last month- but I used a different stamp set.  You can see that card HERE!

This card is a simple, yet elegant one.   It love the sparkle that the silver sequins add to this card.

stamp set:  'Flurry of Wishes'
card stock:  Marina Mist, Whisper White
ink:  Marina Mist
other:  Snow Flurry Punch, Silver Sequins, Dimensionals, Fine Tip Glue Pen, Extra Large Oval Punch

+++++

I had a full weekend of stamping!  It was great to see everyone & share with them!!  And Deke had a full weekend of working in the field.  It is another new week & a busy one here.  We are both off to our other jobs this morning.  He is choring & then headed to the courthouse for a board meeting.  And I'm off to pick up the boys & spend my day with them.  

 

Tonight Deke & I will be burning the midnight oil working with him in the field again & I'll be a stamping!! 

 

I hope you have a MARVELOUS Monday!
Happy Stamping!
Hugs-

SUSIE

'All Ye Faithful'

Here is another one of my Christmas Card Class cards.  Check out these 3 wisemen...and notice the Boughs & Berries Embossing Folder along the edges here.  This is a simple yet elegant card.  I think that the gold foil strip in the middle just adds so much to this. 

stamp set:  'All Ye Faithful'
card stock:  Early Spresson, Very Vanilla, Gold Foil
ink:  Early Espresso
other:  Big Shot, Boughs & Berries Embossing Folder, Circle Framelits, 2 1/2" Circle Punch, Dimensionals

+++++

We had a fun time at Julie's party yesterday with her & her friends.  She is a dear friend & I enjoyed getting to visit with her & see her family.  I was happy that Taylor was home from college & got to stamp with us too.

Deke worked late in the field last night with the tractor & tank.  I rode one round with him & took out his supper.  Then I burnt the midnight oil cutting cardstock for today's classes.  Lorrie & Chris are my hostesses for my 2 classes I have today.  I am looking forward to seeing everyone & getting to stamp again today!!

I'm headed out bright & early this morning......

I hope you have a SUPER Sunday!!

Happy Stamping!
Hugs!
SUSIE

'All Ye Faithful'

Here is another one of my Christmas Card Class cards.  I stamped Mary, Joseph & baby Jesus in a cut out ornament from the Delicate Ornament Thinlit Dies.  I think that it is very pretty!  It is a simple elegance.....and the silver just makes it pop. 

stamp set: 'All Ye Faithful'
card stock:  Basic Gray, Smoky Slate, Winter Wonderland Vellum, Silver Foil
ink: Basic Gray Archival
other: Big Shot, Delicate Ornament Thinlit Die, Silver Cording, Paper Piercing Mat, Paper Piercing Tool, Mini Silver Brads, Dimensionals, Glue Dots

+++++

I have had a super busy week & have stamp classes all weekend.  I burnt the midnight oil last night after work working on things for them.

Woo Hoo!  I'm off to Julie's party today!  We'll have lots of fun making Christmas cards!

Deke is going to start working in the field with the tank wagon today.......he'll be putting in alot of late nights & long hours on the farm- in between meetings this coming week.  

Tonight I'll probably be home alone & I'll be a stamping fool again!  I have 2 stamp classes tomorrow.  Lorrie & Chris are my hostesses!

I hope you have a SENSATIONAL Saturday!
Happy Stamping!
Hugs-
SUSIE

LOVE these snowflakes!!

I love these snowflakes!  Isn't this a pretty card!  This is one of the cool cards we made when I attended Susan's class when I was in St. George, Utah last night.  

There are A LOT of snowflakes here!  It is just a stunning card!

stamp set:  'Flurry of Wishes'
card stock:  Whisper White, Pool Party
ink:  Pool Party, Smoky Slate, Bermuda Bay
other:  Big Shot, Softly Falling Embossing Folder, Iced Rhinestones, Silver Cording Trim, Snow Flurry Punch, Flower Medallion Punch, Basic Rhinestones

+++++

I had a perfect group that joined me to stamp last night!  We all had a great time together creating!

I'm off early again this morning to Nathan & Sarah's to get their boys & then headed to Manda's to pick up her 3 boys.  We'll take Brayden to school & then head out to our home for the day. 

Everyone is going racing tonight in Donnellson.  I'll be home alone.  I have tons of creating to do & card stock to cut, plus wedding invites to finish up too!  I hope Nathan has good luck & I'll patiently await text messages throughout the night to hear how things are going.  

Tomorrow I have a Christmas Card Stamp-a-Stack at Julies' home.  I'm looking forward to it!

I hope you have a FABULOUS Friday!!
Happy Stamping!
Hugs-
SUSIE

A sparkly poinsettia!

Here is another poinsettia card.  This is one of my Christmas Card Class options too!  It has lots of sparkle in it with all of the gold.  It is very pretty in person.

stamp set: 'Reason for the Season'
card stock:   Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Gold Foil, Whisper White
ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Mossy Meadow
other:  Paper Snips, Gold Cord, Gold Sequins, Fine Tip Glue Pen, 2 1/2" Circle Punch, Dimensionals, Glue Dots

 ++++++

Yesterday was a full day with all 4 boys.  Then last night Sarah stamped return addresses on invites & rsvp's, plus put on postage stamps.  And Aunt Kathy & I assembled wedding invites, since I got them all cut last night.  We are gaining on getting them all done.  I burnt the midnight oil again working on them last night.  I'll hopefully get them finished up on Friday night so that they go out in the mail on Saturday.

I'm off early this morning to pick up the boys.  Both Manda & Nathan have early meetings today.  Deke is home today & will be putting back together nursery's- as we are gearing up for our new baby piggies to arrive.  I am hoping maybe Papa will take the twins with him for a couple of hours sometime today, as that would only leave me with the 2 little boys.  Brayden is going home with Aunt Kathy so he can ride in the combine with Uncle Jerry after school today.  So I'll see him later tonight.  

My UPS man arrives about 4:00 pm for deliveries & today he'll be bringing some card stock & ribbons that I need to hurry & get cut & folded for tonight's class.  As tonight is my monthly Stampin' Night here at our home.  I have a house full of friends coming to stamp with me!  Everyone will be making 6 cards.  So today is going to be another super busy day!!  And I pray that I can get everything done.

Gotta run....
I hope you have a special Thursday!!
Happy Stamping!
Hugs-
SUSIE

A Poinsettia Christmas card!

Here is another one of the cards I created for my upcoming Christmas Card Class.

stamp set:  'Reason for the Season'
card stock:  Real Red, Cucumber Crush, Whisper White
ink:  Real Red, Cucumber Crush
other:  Big Shot, Boughs & Berries Embossing Folder, Lots of Labels Framelits, Gold Sequins, Fine Tip Glue Pen, Dimensionals, Glue Dots, 

I burnt the midnight oil making wedding invitations!!  I have them all cut now!  Just need to emboss, punch corners & assemble!  Amanda came tonight & got them all printed for me.  Aunt Kathy came for awhile & punched & assembled circles.......so we are gaining!

Deke has a meeting this morning.  I'm off to pick up the boys!  Tonight I'll be burning the midnight oil again working on wedding invitations.   Sarah & Aunt Kathy are both coming tonight to help.  I would LOVE to get them all done.  I don't think that will happen- but we are really going to try.

I hope you have a WONDERFUL Wednesday!
Happy Stamping!
Hugs-
SUSIE