Christmas, Christmas Everywhere!!!

Happy, Happy Monday everybody! Not too much longer till Christmas now!!!

I hope everyone has had a good day. Izzy and I have had a really good one . The weather has been pleasant, the sun was out for awhile and I just looked out the window to the park and the sunset is gorgeous!

Izzy has been pretty happy for a Monday. She is usually kind of grumpy because Jason is gone, but we have spent a lot of time together today to make up for it. In fact we cleaned the house together this afternoon and both the front and back glass doors are thoroughly dusted to about three feet up!!! Oh the ottoman is also! I believe it has now been dusted exactly 397 times! She is such a cute little helper. She just wants to be a part of everything!

She is still doing her "Snuggles" thing. And boy does she have her daddy wrapped around her finger. She was kind of tired yesterday at dinner (we were having it a little later than normal) and all the sudden she just had a melt down and was crying in her seat. I figured she was probably okay, but she kept crying and saying "Snuggles, snuggles!" Well you should have seen Jason! He was hunched over with his head against hers, patting her on the back. It was ridiculous! If I don't watch out, there is no telling what that girl will have her daddy doing! lol!

Oh, we put the tree up last night!! It was so much fun! Izzy loved all the ornaments, especially the ones that make noises. Her all time favorites though are the ones that look like doggies. We put them down low so that she could see them. She loves to point to them and say, "Doggie! Doggie!" It is really cute!!

Well I am slowly getting caught up on all the challenges from over the weekend. There is always a million good ones and I want to play but there is never enough time to get them all done. One of my favorite weekly challenges, and one I always try to do even if I am late, is Jen Del Muro's Sketch For You To Try. This week she had another wonderful layout for everyone to attempt.

I am okay with the way this card came out. I think I need to fiddle with it a little more to make it work. I love the image, and the papers. I am also happy with the coloring. But to my eye there is either something missing or something is a little bit off. Oh well! I started this card off by stamping Milly Decorating Tree by Spiral Whisper on white card stock and colored her in using my copics and markers. I then cut her out and mounted her on a piece of brown card stock and a piece of pink card stock that I cut out with my nesties. Following the sketch, I layered on brown card stock and three different kinds of DP. I then added three green brads to the top. Like I said, the card is okay, but is not quite right. If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to share!!

My second card I am really happy with. I actually cased the idea from Leigh O'Brien who made an awesome New House card using a Halloween Stamp. I love the idea so much that I decided to make a Christmas themed New House card for my friend Tracy!

Don't you love the idea of using a holiday stamp for a non-holiday card?!!!! Thank you so much Leigh for the idea! Using this week's Sketch Saturday Challenge for the layout I created this festive yet bright card! I started off by stamping the gingerbread house from a retired stamp set by Stampin' Up called Sweet Holiday. I colored it in using my copics and markers and created some snow drifts at the bottom with my copics. Following the sketch, I layered on green card stock, pink card stock and three different kinds of DP. I used my nesties to create the ovals. I added three different buttons and a purple ribbon that I tied my sentiment onto. I finished the card by stamping the gum drops on the tag and coloring them!! Isn't it fun and colorful?!! I really think Tracy is going to enjoy it! I just love this idea if you can't tell! lol!

For my final card, I used this week's Sketch Challenge over at PCP. I actually downloaded the challenge before I went over to Tracy's Saturday morning and thought about what stamp set I could use in the circles all day! I was still thinking about it when I went out to my mailbox that evening and found that my new MFT stamps had just arrived!!!! Thank you so much Kim for the quick turnaround. Well needless to say, my dilemma was solved!!!

I love, love, love this new stamp set and I am not even that into bags! To be honest though, I wouldn't mind owning one of these!! LOL!! Okay so I started this card off by stamping the three purses from Tote-ally Fantastic by MFT stamps on several different sheets of DP and brown, red and green card stock and then paper pieced them together. I added a gold glitter pen to the buckles to give them some sparkle. I then popped them off some white, red and brown card stock that I cut out with my nesties. I went ahead and distressed the white circles with some old olive ink and a sponge. Following the sketch, I layered on two different kinds of DP and brown and green card stock. I then decided that it would be super fun if the background looked like a purse, so I altered the sketch slightly and rounded the corners on the second layer. I also added two strips of brown card stock to make it look like handles! To finish the card, I printed the sentiment off on my computer, mounted it on brown card stock and a piece of DP and then added gold stitching around all the straps and pockets! I am so happy with the way this turned out! I might not even give it away for Christmas!!

Well, I am off to eat dinner! I hope all of you have had a wonderful day and have a wonderful evening! Thanks as always for stopping by!