Belated Merry Christmas and Happy Happy New Year to all!

Whew!  Can you believe that it's almost 2010?  I have been MIA 'cause there has been so much going on.  I've baked, and baked, and baked....and this is where all my creativity has been....in baking! 

Just a quick note to wish everyone a wonderful and safe New Year, 2010! 

From Blogger Pictures

My son had no idea that I was going to kiss his cheek...

From Blogger Pictures

My son and his friend are volunteering at the Insight Bowl game with the Boys and Girls Club right now. I am going to pick him up at our friends house and I made these cupcakes to take over there...

Happy New Year!

H{ippity} Hop Today...Welcome!

Hello {ippity} fans!  I'm loving my {ippity} stamp collection so much!  Have you played with these stamps yet?   

I took the SCS featured stampers challenge on Sunday, FS150: She's BENZI-riffic!   I used my {ippity} Because of You stamp set.  Here's the card that I came up with:

From Unity Projects

Stamps: {ippity} Because of You

Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, PInk Pirouette, Very Vanilla
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Soft Suede
Accessories: Prima Flowers, Sizzix-Wild Dashes Texturz, SU Subtles Beads
If you would like your own {ippity} Because of You set (or any other terrific set), you can get them HERE!
Thanks for stopping by and have an {ippity} kind of day! *smile*

Merry Christmas to all Friends with Flair!

Yes, you heard it right...this will be the last Friends With Flair Friday for 2009!
Can you believe it will be 2010 in...14 days?!  Can you believe Christmas is in...7 days?!  I am totally NOT ready, are you?
It's been a fun year participating in Unity hops and challenges...can you believe that they are such a great company?!

Okay...so now, can you believe that I had not inked up the snowman from the {ippity} Kissmas & Mistletoe set yet?!  So, of course, I just had to!  I inked him up with Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber in Snow Cap.
I embossed the white c/s with a Sizzix Texture Plate, (can't see it that well in the picture) and embossed the sentiment in silver.  Then, I used this stuff called Snow Writer, by DecoArt to outline the white hills and make the snow falling, and covered it all in Diamond Dust.  The sparkle looks cool IRL!  After I did this, I felt this card had enough texture and shine, so I just added a scarf to the snowman and Stickled him some buttons:

From Unity Projects

Stamps: {ippity} Kissmas & Mistletoe
Cardstock: SU! Tempting Turquoise and Whisper White
Ink: Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber-Snow Cap
Accessories: Red Gingham Ribbon, DecoArt-Snow Writer, FloralCraft Diamond Dust, Top Boss Embossing Fluid, SU Sterling Silver Embossing Powder, Stickles-Star Dust, Sizzix Big Shot, Sizzix Texture Plate
A couple of years ago, I put this quote in my Christmas cards...luv this:
 "And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before...
What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?!" ~Dr. Seuss
Hope your Christmas 'means a little bit more' too!  Happy, Happy Holiday's!  Be safe, and above all, ENJOY and BELIEVE! *smile*

My 'Fondant' Cake...and updated Birthday Blog Candy Winner...

As I mentioned on Monday, I took a 'Wilton fondant cookie' class, and am now taking a four week 'Wilton fondant cake' class. Here's a picture of my first 'fondant' cake...it looks like a birthday present with a bow and curly ribbon. It's an 8x8 two layer french vanilla cake with a thin layer of strawberry in the middle.  I love how smooth the fondant looks:

From Misc Pic's

Thanks for coming by!

P.S. updated birthday candy winner:


CONGRATS TO #9: Gwen said...
Happy Birthday! and thanks for sharing the joy by having a giveaway! :)

GWEN, please email me at: jenstampin4u@aol.com with your address and I will ship out your goodies right away...you have 48 hours to contact me! Hope to hear from you soon!

"Fondant" Cookies...and Baseball...

Okay, so one of the classes that I have recently taken was a Wilton Cookie Class. In this class they showed us how to make Christmas cookies with 'fondant'. You know, fondant is the thin sugar layer that you roll out and it looks so smooth over a cake...no wrinkles, no lines, looks so perfect! It was a fun class and we added cookie sticks so we could put them together in a bouquet. Since this was a trial run, I didn't make the cookie bouquet. However, I am making some of these cookies for Christmas gifts and will put the bouquet arrangements together then for each family. The Wilton sugar cookie recipe is quite delicious too!

Here is a picture of the cookies that I made (the one of the left is not finished, but those colors are pieces of fondant that I was playing with):

From Misc Pic's

Tomorrow, I'll share the fondant cake that I made.

Also, I wanted to share one picture from my son's baseball tournment this past weekend. This photo was Austin on first base and the other team was trying to pick him off...to get him out. Here he is sliding back to first base and NO that girl didn't tag him out. They tried to pick him off a few times and he was safe every time. He wouldn't have liked it if a girl got him out...there are very few girls that play competitive baseball, especially in the 14U age bracket..yay for girls!

From Misc Pic's

Thanks for looking!

Baseball all weekend....and....Winner of Birthday Candy!

It's Sunday already?!  My son had baseball tournament games all weekend and before driving all the way back home today from Big League Dreams in Gilbert, we had to stop for dinner.  The team lost their last game, but the tournament was fun and all the boys were in a pretty good mood (even after the loss).  This is such a great team of 13 and 14 year old boys...they're smart, they LOOOOOVE baseball, they all get along (many are good buddies) and they just have a fun time.  I will have to post a couple of pictures, but I am so exhausted right now, perhaps I'll post some tomorrow. 

Anyway, I wanted to post the winner of my Birthday Blog Candy...and the winner by random.org out of 23 comments is...

updated:  #9 !!!

(I tried to post the actual box that shows this number, but it wouldn't let me keep the image...hmmm, I'll have to figure that out).

CONGRATS TO #9:  Gwen said...


Happy Birthday! and thanks for sharing the joy by having a giveaway! :)

December 11, 2009 8:43 AM
 
Gwen, I have no idea where you live, so please send me your address/info to my email:  jenstampin4u@aol.com and I will send out your goodies.

THANK YOU everyone for playing and THANK YOU so much for the nice well wishes too!

Good night!....yawn.....

Tickets to Happiness...

Happy Friday...Friends, Flair, Unity...what else could you need today!

Sharing a card today to give you all "tickets to happiness"! I used the November KOM, 'simply magical':

From Unity Projects

Enjoy your day!

P.S. Added 9th item to candy: 4 feet of ribbon!
You can enter by leaving a comment on my 12.09.09 post below (drawing on Sunday evening!):

Added 8th item to candy...

1 package of Metal Edge Tags...aluminum white squares!

Birthday Candy Here!

When it comes to my birthday, I simply enjoy the day and marvel at the little things in life that mean so much to me. Ahhh, what a wonderful life it is to have family and friends!

I don't know about you, but I never say anything about my birthday. This year, I'm actually going to give away some birthday candy...woohoo! I am starting with a few items below, and will add more each day! You can check back each day to see what I've added to the candy, but make sure to check back late on Sunday evening 'cause you will have 48 hours to claim your prize!

All you need to do is leave a comment on this post and I will draw a winner on Sunday evening, December 13th @ 8pm (PST) to win these goodies. Only one comment per person, please!

From Misc Pic's

Contents, so far:
1.  {ippity} Kissmas & Mistletoe stamp set;
2.  Unity--unmounted Distressed Dots background stamp;
3.  Unity--Dream Tree background stamp;
4.  Stampin' Up!--Alphabet Soup stamp set (retired/new/unmounted)
5.  Lil' Davis Designs--Patterned Chipboard Alphabets, Bubble Gum Dot,40 letter
6.  Unity--Palette Hybrid Ink Pad, Burnt Umber
7.  Stickles--Orange Peel
added: 
8.  1 package of Metal Edge Tags...aluminum white squares
9.  4 feet of ribbon
10.  5 pocket note cards (pink) and envelopes
11.  Sizzix Snowman #2 Sizzlits die
I'm meeting one of my friends for lunch today and will keep dinner simple tonight. Hope you have a chance to remember the little things in life today!

THE SCRAP REVIEW...woohoo, this is a cool camera bag!

Okie dokie, it's been a pretty busy time for me ever since leaving for the Thanksgiving holiday! I haven't been around much and am trying to get back into all the crafty stuff...I'm even taking some Wilton classes to work with fondant! As soon as I get the pictures loaded I will share that too!

What I want to share now is soooo exciting...I won an Oasis MiMi DSLR Handbag from THE SCRAP REVIEW! Woohoo! Have YOU been following THE SCRAP REVIEW blog? They have lots of great reviews of products and even get them donated for give-aways...go check them out here! And...here's the camera bag that will be arriving in my mail...soon...

From Misc Pic's

Friends with Flair Friday!

It seems like I've been gone forever, but it was only one week...whew...time sure does fly by!

I needed some quick tags to attach to some gifts for school, so I used the Unity October store kit {wonderful...you}. These were quick and easy, and I will write the recipients names on the back....thanks for coming by!

From Unity Projects