Stylish Blogger Award & More to Celebrate!

I am having a great November. It started with some work I did for Jill D-Zines on my December Daily cover. It will be published on December 1st (that's tomorrow) at an online magazine. Come back tomorrow for pictures and a link.
My six year old had a Christmas card published and is now being sold!
I won some Bella Blvd paper and embellies! Thanks Bella Blvd! And for those of you who saw my prize post, I found the contest on Facebook.
Then I received a blog award from Whimsical Craft Loft and you can see my details below on that.
Had a few Etsy sales.
Today, I got an email from 2 Peas in a Bucket that my submission will be featured as the project in the 20 Days of Sharing on December 22, 2010.
So, now let's talk about the Creative Blogger Award. It was sent to me by Wildly Whimsical Craft Loft Blog. And I am to share 8 things about me. So here goes:
1) I am a one of eleven children. I have six sisters all named Mary and my Mother's name was Mary too! I also have four brothers, but they all have their own names.
2) I am married with two grade school age boys. That's all I'm sharing for safety reasons.
3) I started a non-profit scrapbooking and paper crafting guild with my friends when our local scrapbook store closed three years ago.
4) I read "Get the Sugar Out" and think sugar is evil! I do cheat now and again it is so tasty.
5) I love coffee with stevia and milk.
6) My favorite place to vacation is southwestern Michigan near South Haven. You have to see this great lake if you haven't!
7) I have been to Hong Kong, Greece, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Luxenburg.
8) I love to read and am in a book club.
Now I am supossed to pass on the award to 8 bloggers. So here are my Stylish Blogger Award Nominees:
http://creationsbychristie.blogspot.com/
http://www.amazingpapergrace.com/
http://www.michellelanning.com/
http://suelelli.blogspot.com/
http://clare-buswell.blogspot.com/2010/11/holly-shaped-vintage-tags.html
http://lovelifeslittlepleasures.blogspot.com/
http://mistrabutterfly.blogspot.com/
http://livingorganizedchaos.blogspot.com/
Thanks so much Wildly Whimsical Craft Loft!

Do You Give Your Best Work Away too?

Just going through some older photos looking for quilts I made to apply for a design team and came across these pictures. They are not my best photos, and I have gotten much better about photographing my work. But I do what a lot of my crafting friends do and give away my best work to family, friends and loved ones. So, I can't retake the photos, and I realized there are several quilts I did not take pictures of. I am usually so excited when they are finished to give them and see their reaction.
It has been a busy day, putting up the Christmas tree & I thought I might share these. The first is a baby quilt in the bargelo style, the red and black quilt is a pineapple block (I think I got the pattern from Better Homes and Gardens Quilting), and the last is a log cabin with side details influence by the Buggy Barn Quilt Shops work.

My Prize Winning Secrets!

In the past few years I have become addicted to online scrap booking give aways and challenges. And I have been lucky! Some of the prizes I have won: a scrapmabob (drink holder with garbage for crops), a Martha Stewart Cake Cartridge, a mini album, a stamp set, some Bell Blvd items, a Pet Scrap book kit. So, what are my secrets?
1) The Cricut Message board-find lots of giveaway links in the Cricut Chat Section & RAK & Swaps. RAK stands for Random Acts of Kindness.
2) Facebook-Do a search for all of your favorite companies and like their pages. The post giveaways their all the time. You will need to set up a Facebook account to like another page. This actually has become my best source for give aways!
3) For blogs with regular give aways, subscribe to posts. For example, Everyday Cricut usually has weekly give aways and daily posts. Your chances increase if you leave a comment on each daily post. So, you want to know every time the post and then you can make a comment and enter. Look for subscribe to post at the bottom of the blog. This will generate an email to you every time they post to the blog.
4) For Challenges: Visit Craft Crave and click on the Craft Categories tab to see a list of current challenges. You can also subscribe to posts on blogs with regular challenges. For example, Etsy Inspired Challenges posts a weekly challenge with prizes. And if you did not win my last drawing, you can watch for my next prize at the Etsy Inspired Challenge blog December 11th, 2010. You could win the scrapbag at the top of the post and never lose your spatula again!
5) It's ok to follow to win. Most blogs are trying to generate income by blogging or promoting their product on a blog. So, if they want followers and often require this for entry into a contest. It is ok to follow. No email is generated by following, and they will only get your email address if it is listed on your Google account. Now if you want to see all the blogs you follow and if they are holding a contest, you will want to subscribe to them and choose follow in Google reader. Then go to Google reader daily or often and read the headlins of the blogs to see what you which blogs you want to visit.
6) If you leave contact information you will want to type in your address in the following manner to be safer "jsmith at hotmail dot com" This will prevent malware and spy ware programs from automatically finding your address and infecting your computer.
7) Create a contest or junk mail email account. If you are entering contest you will be asked by quite a few to provide an email address and then you will get all their online promotional emails. So, create a free account at hotmail, or yahoo and use that address instead of your personal address for these contests. But don't forget to check this address for contest information!
Now I've got you started, and if you have any tips please share them in the comments section. Also please check out my Etsy Store Sales thru Cyber Monday at Scrapguild and Scrapincovers! I hold a sale just 2times a year! I have great gift ideas for the crafter who has everything and the Cricut enthusiast! Be sure to use my coupon code at check out!

December Daily Updates

I have been making a few additions to my December Daily Album. This is a project that Ali Edwards does every year, and this year Scrapbooks Etc. is on board. They've started a online December Daily project, where you can see Ali's DD and every other scrapper who has shared a link. There are many wonderful ideas out there. Some of the ideas I incorporated are the lace card stock on overheads, and clear page pockets. I used some lace card stock to cover a sticker protector sheet that I cut up, and filled it with recipes that we will use on Make Mondays. One son wants Rice Krispie Wreaths and the other some Ginger cookies Grandmas makes.

I have also made an envelop to hold this years Christmas card. I am so excited about our card this year! My six year old entered a contest at the YMCA over the summer and he won!
His card, pictured above, (along with 4 others) has been published and is for sale! Funds raised go to benefit the Voluntary Action Center of DeKalb, which brings meals on wheels to all the local home bound. So, I skipped our usual picture card and am sending these this year. I created an envelope out of heavy card stock in the same paper line as my DD cover and added some circles and eyelets so that we could wrap and close the envelop and open to look at the card. I journaled on the back and added a tab punched out at the side.
I added some stamped images, Mary and Jesus on Christmas is a Close to My Heart set I used a crop that belongs to a friend (don't know the name of the set). The damask image is Inkadinkadoo.

I will be working on some Cricut cuts for the DD next. I would like a snowflake for the first snowfall (usually by December 6th around here). And will look through my Christmas cart for more inspiration.

Winner is & Black Friday thru Cyber Monday Sale!

We have a winner! I went to random.org and put in 30 as my number of entries. One person left a comment on another post. So, random.org chose 17, and that's you, Judy! Judy said, "Cricut Expression or Cake Cover in Michael Miller Carnival Bloom Chocolate Brown from Scrapincovers is one of my favorites. I also really like the cuttlebug cover. Love your products." Thanks Judy! I will be emailing you for your shipping information.
Now, on to the sale information! I am running a Black Friday to Cyber Monday sale at both of my Etsy stores. Find them here: Scrapguild & Scrapincovers. All items in the shop are 20% off! Please use the coupon code: BFthruSM10 at the check out. This is a new Etsy feature and it is my first attempt to use a coupon code, so please let me know if you have questions or problems!
I only run a sale twice a year, so if you did not win, you may want to consider a purchase! The next sale runs in the Summer!

Work the Stash Wednesday! Fabric & Garland

I had so much fun with my last Work the Stash Wednesday that I decided to do it again! This time I worked on a Santa page & am submiting it to a new challenge blog I found ABC DT Challenge. So, we all have stashes, what's the big deal? My goal was to use items older than a year, for which I did not have a scrap booking use and include sewing so I could enter the challenge. From my stash I pulled the red felt in the flower, the pink organza in the scallops (inside the circle) and the red star garland.
How did I make the scallops? Well I got out my Sizzix Circle dies and cut up a bunch of circles. I folded them in half and basted a stitch along the raw edge about 1/4" away from the edge.
I pulled the stitch to gather the thread, so that it was about an inch long and tied a knot.
I then glued them to my circle with my hot glue gun.

The felt flower was made with my Heartfelt Creations Dies and Stamps. I cut the felt with the die. Stamped the felt with some black Staz On, covered the stamped lines with liquid glass and sprinkled it with Martha Stewart red glitter. I then beaded the center.

Here's my list of supplies:
Patterned paper K & Company
Circle cut with George Basic Shapes
Swirls cut with Scal 2
Poinsettia multi colored flowers K & Company
Stickles in center of poinsettia
Spellbinder Nestabilites Blossom Two Heartfelt Creations Die
Heartfelt Creations Innoscents Flower 1 PreCut Set stamp
Liquid Glass
Martha Stewart Glitter
Organza
Sizzix Circle Die
Santa Claus Title Cricut Christmas Cartridge
Bling Queen and Co

A Tuesday Treat: Maple Pumpkin Butter

For the past few years I have made a batch of Maple Pumpkin Butter and given it to my children's teachers for Thanksgiving. Along with the Maple Pumpkin Butter, I usually make a card saying how thankful we are for them. Here is a photo of this years jar. I used my Tim Holtz Rosette, my Stampin Up Carved & Candlelit stamp set and some ribbon from Michaels. I did not have a pumpkin stamp that would fit inside my circle, so I used a portion of the image and wrote my title by hand.
The recipe is from the Parade magazine that you find in you Sunday paper and is a few years old.
Maple Pumpkin Butter
Ingredients
29 oz Pumpkin puree (unsweetened)
3/4 c Brown Sugar
3/4 c Apple Cider
3/4 c Maple Syrup
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp Ginger
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients and put in a large heavy oven and stove proof casserole. Cook over med-low heat on stove top to boil. Reduce to low and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring during the entire cooking process. Slide casserole into oven and cook. Stir every 15 minutes with a total cook time of 1 1/2 to 2 hours. This is great for getting a squash into your picky eaters too! You will love how the house smells! Cool and refrigerate. Will keep one week in the fridge.