Blogaversary and 400 Follower Blog Candy!

Well the Blogaversary came and went (Oct 19th) and then my following approached 400 so I waited. Well, I wish I hadn't because the majority of my blog candy is for Christmas and here it is Dec 6th. I apologize for that, but at least you'll have a head start on next year. LOL Or if you're anything like me you'll still be in the Christmas spirit well into January (or February) and still think it's pretty cool. :D Anyway, this is some of my favorite stuff so I hope you like.

A 12x12 pad of K&Co Christmas Cheer DP

6 packs of coordinating embellies

A Chipboard Angel Book

4 Spools of ribbon including that cool candy cane wired cord that I love so much

An 8x8 pad of the black and creme K&Co DP that I've done tons of cards with

A pink and brown camo "Tote-ally Cool" tote bag with tons of pockets and zippers and a carousel base for your table or crops or whatever

Because of the late date this is gonna be a quicky so spread the word, post on your sidebar, whatever. The candy is open to all world-wide and your only requirement is to leave a comment on this post by Thursday (Dec 11) night by 11:59 pm. PST. (Of course if you're not a follower I'd love that too but it's not a requirement. They will have a bit of an advantage here :D ) The winner will be announced Friday morning and I hope to have it packed up to go that day so please come back to see if you've won.

Thank you everyone who has supported and encouraged me. I so appreciate your comments and value your friendship and inspiration tremendously! Big Hugs! D

BBTB Blog Hop winner!

Woo Hoo! This month's BBTB Blog Hop Candy winner is..... chosen by Random DH...... is # 67

CATHY C who wrote ...
(Click on that to see what Cathy wrote. How come I can't paste it directly? I'm such and idiot when it comes to this stuff LOL Oh crap, that didn't work either, trust me, Cathy said nice stuff and is new to crafting so the candy will come in handy :D)

Please email me at dlmundinger (at) yahoo (dot) com with your addy and I'll get that right out to you. Thanks to all who participated.

Yes I know I said I'd be posting blog candy in honor of my 400 (+woohoo!) followers but I need to get it all together and take a pic. Check back later today, okay? (Hopefully, I think DH as the itch to go do something) Hugs, D

2Sketches4U and The Cutting Cafe

I'm so sorry I've been a bad blogger this week. 2 appointments snuck up on me which led to much less crafting time than I planned. I am very excited that I actually managed to play along with 2Sketches4U this week though. You know me and sketches, but Laura's sketch 40 worked out so well with the new stamps I got from Whiff of Joy that I just HAD to play long. My dear friend Barb (an AMAZING stamper and fabulously sweet woman, check out her blog HERE) introduced me to these adorable images from Whiff of Joy's newest artist N. Fickel. This stamp is called Wee and drum. Too cute, huh, especially with the kitty! Anyway, I used my Copics to color (sorry, I don't stamp enough to remember to take pics of what colors I used) and also took the opportunity to break out my new MS crown around the corner punches. Wee is cut out using my Nesties Deckle Rectangles and I added some Rain Dot snowflakes for some subtle texture. there's also a bit of flower Soft on Wee's collar and adhesive beads on the drum sticks.

I so wanted to do a pink and green card so in the end I used papers from Nana's Nursery Baby Girl stack and made it Christmassy by adding a leftover snowflake from another project that was hanging around the table. The sentiment ring is from the Cutting Cafe's Christmas Circles Set 2 printable stamp set. Because they are resizeable I was able to print it out really small so it would fit on my snowflake and use my Nesties to cut the ring that resembles the sketch. WooHoo!

Please check back tomorrow for the winner of the BBTB Blog Hop candy AND another bit of candy in celebration of reaching 400 followers!

The Cuttlebug Spot Winter Theme with The Cutting Cafe Inside Greeting

This week at The Cuttlebug Spot were kicking off the holiday season with a winter theme. Although I live in CA now, I grew up outside of Chicago and there was plenty of snow. It was hard to adjust to no beautiful white at Christmas time but I don't miss the scraping of windshields or hazardous driving conditions. I still remember waking up and knowing it had snowed because of how bright my room looked from the reflection outside, even with the curtains closed. Our first Christmas in CA (29 years ago) I woke up with that same feeling of excitement but alas, no flakes were falling. Now we have to drive to it, although at times during the winter we see snow caps on the hills surrounding Livermore. Enough of this trip down memory lane.

Let's get to the card. I'm really proud of this one because it is made from a recycled Christmas mailing from Nordstrom. As soon as I saw the paper (all iridescent with such a lovely winter scene) I knew it was going into a card. It embossed beautifully with one of the new Christmas folders from (whoa, I've bought so many this season, I can't keep them straight) and a new Christmas border on the front. The snowflakes are Jolee's, and the peelie was sent from my dear friend B-Bug from the Cricut mb. Wired ribbon and fiber is from M's.

Inside I used more of the mailer. It's printed oh so subtly with snowflakes and I embossed with a Sizzix folder. The sentiment is from The Cutting Cafe Christmas Card Inside Greetings. It is truly my "go to" this season. I actually am finishing (most) of my cards when I first make them so they'll be ready to mail (WooHoo!) and isn't this one perfect? I changed the color to match my card (easy instructions on the Cafe site) and cut it out and matted it with my Nesties long rectangles. Now be sure to check out the gorgeous frosty creations by my fabulous DT sisters HERE and if you play along you could be the winner of a $2o gift certificate from Custom Crops. If you're looking for the BBTB blog hop scroll down a post. :D

BBTB Telephone Challenge and Blog Hop

Well it's the last Monday of the month which means it's Blog Hop time for Bitten by the Bug. If you just happened upon this post and you'd like to start at the beginning of the hop click HERE. And if you've arrived from the sweet and wonderfully talented Sharon's blog you' re on the right track. This week Regina has chosen the telephone cut on the From My Kitchen cartridge. All I could think of was a child worrying about being on the "naughty" list and trying to call Santa to explain.

I made a shaped front card using the telephone, holly from Joys of the Season, and the font from Winter Woodland welded to a rectangle from George. The cord is wired ribbon I got at M's.

Here are the dimensional views of the popped layers.

I'm offering some of my favorite embellies from K & Co. as well as some holiday Raindots as blog candy. (OOPS!, guess you have to turn your head sideways to see it, huh? Sorry about that, but I'm too tired to fix it right now.) All you have to do to be eligible is leave a comment on this post. My DH will draw a name on Saturday morning. Now you're off to view the fabulous Michelle's blog. Her work is awesome so you are in for a real treat. Enjoy the rest of the hop!

A Simple Quick One

Well, instead of getting ready for our overnight shopping trip to San Francisco, here I am making a card to post. LOL I've had this idea in my head since Halloween. The little mouse punch from MS is just too cute. I used one of the new Christmas Cuttlebug folders for the background and the misteltoe is a Sizzix die. How simple is that!?

Inside sentiment is computer generated and of course the border punch is also MS. So we're off to enjoy the holiday kick-off. SF is so romantic this time of year. Have a great weekend! We sure plan to. :D

Vintage Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all! My pies are baked and all I have to do is roast some brussel sprouts and pop the butternut squash lasagna in the oven before heading off to friends. Whew, way ahead of schedule for a change so I couldn't just let the day go by without popping out a final quick Thanksgiving card using a vintage image from Dover Publications. The paper is Graphic 45 Domestic Goddess, the flowers Prima, skeleton leaf from my stash and the velvet ricrac is May Arts. Have a blessed bountiful holiday! Hugs, D

Reindeer Wreath- .cut file available

Doodlecharms is one of my favorite cartridges and this little Rudolph is one of my favorite cuts so I just couldn't resist decking him out for the holidays. I'm really partial to the sort of rustic lodgey decorations at Christmas (although I don't really have any, LOL) so I was thinking along the lines of a wreath around a deer head that you might see in the mountains. Then because this deer is so whimsical I thought a tangling of Christmas lights in his antlers might be in order. They are from Jolee's and I believe I bought them at my LSS, but I'm pretty sure they're also available at M's. This shaped card also uses Joys of the Season and has quite a bit of texture with the Cuttlebug embossing, flocking, and Glossy Accents for his nose. Because it was designed for Custom Crops the free .cut file and full instructions are available HERE. Just a note. If you're looking for the projects on the Custom Crops site they are now located near the top left of the home page, and if you're looking for my projects specifically, you can click on the Custom Crops Designer blinky on the right of my blog, or on my name in the top right hand corner on any of my projects at Custom Crops.

Penguin Pyramid Revisited-.Cut file available

Well the wait is finally over for those of you who wanted a .cut file for my penguin pyramid. Custom Crops had decided that cards submitted for challenges would no longer be considered for the site (they really prefer exclusivity) so when I made my original I took no pix during assembly and left my .cut file unfit for human consumption. LOL However, I got so many requests that I decided to redesign it (oh so very slightly) and told Kelly what I'd done and she decided she'd accept it, this time. Now don't go thinkin' this is gonna happen every week, but it's tough since alot of my best work is done for BBTB. Anyway, I'm grateful for the slight bend in the rules this time. I kinda like the addition of the snowflakes to the back of the card, but if you prefer it without, just delete them from the file.For full instructions and the free .cut file click HERE. If it's Tues and you're having problems downloading the .cut file it may be because the site is overwhelmed because of their sale. Try again tomorrow and let me know. They actually took the articles from their sidebar in anticipation but I linked anyway.

The addition of the snowflakes to the back really jazzes up the inside of the card, don't you think? Also, I have to tell you that Custom Crops is having their "Pink Tuesday" sale TODAY until 12:00 midnight CST so HURRY over there. This blows Black Friday WAY out of the water!Honestly, the deals are fantastic (would you believe 12 x 12 Cricut mats for $7.99!?) so be sure to take a look.

BBTB Cornucopia Challenge

Well how about this! Kinda early for me to be posting this week's BBTB challenge but they're up, and I'm kind of excited because the cut was chosen by ME! I thought the cornucopia from Paper Doll Dress Up would be fitting for Thanksgiving week but instead of filling it with fruit I filled it with flowers as if it were a decoration for the Thanksgiving table. I made a shaped card using Design Studio and then because there are no shadow cuts on this cartridge I cut several more slightly smaller and embossed it with the Cuttlebug. I've been collecting all sorts of beautiful Prima flowers and thought this would be a great place to use them. The leaves were cut in gold foil board using a die from Stampin'Up and embossed on the Cuttlebug with one of the embossing folders that came with the butterfly set.

For the dimension I stacked foam so the cut got progressively thicker towards the opening of the cornucopia.

Then I trimmed the rim and popped that as well so the flowers would look like they were really coming from within. My Design Team sisters did a fabulous job with this this challenge so be sure to stop by BBTB and have a look and next week Regina will be choosing the challenge cut because it will be blog hop time again.

Christmas is... and a Blog Award

I've been in the mood to use some of the MANY new things I've been purchasing lately but haven't gotten around to playing with. Here I made another simple card using one of the new larger format Cuttlebug folders, my new MS holly border punch, some new WIRED ribbon from M's (those cool swirls will STAY swirled!) and The Christmas Long Border from The Cutting Cafe. Really quick and simple but I love how it came out.

Inside I've used another of the many Christmas Card Inside Greetings, also from The Cutting Cafe. These are a life saver for me and you'll be seeing plenty more in the future. I'm so happy that I now have my Printmaster program so I can change the color of these printable stamps. Regina has full instructions HERE for working with the stamps if you're interested. Instructions for resizing and the like too.

I also want to thank my dear friend Leah for this very special blog award. Her friendship means the world to me. Love ya Sweetie! Because I'm feeling really thankful for all you the friend I've met through this wonderful hobby I want to pass it on to each and every one of you. Feel free to copy it and paste it to your blog and say it's from me. I truly appreciate your inspiration and support.

A Contemporary Christmas Card from The Cutting Cafe

So this one is a little different for me. I was inspired by the little ribbon trio I got at M's last week. The color combo just sings to me and I thought a contemporary card might be in order. I browsed through my Cutting Cafe files and came across the Christmas Long Phrases printable stamp set. There are 6 different phrases included in this set, but the "May you holiday season be all wrapped up in cheer" was perfect for what I had in mind.

I printed the phrase out twice in the colors to match my ribbons and wove them together to look like a wrapped present. The background is embossed with the new Tartan Cuttlebug folder. Then all I needed was a big bow.

Regina must have read my mind this year when she came up with the Christmas Card Inside Greetings. I rarely finish the inside when I'm making a card and then have to scramble to come up with something when I want to send it. NO MORE! In fact there are so many different sentiments in this set that I've finished the last 3 cards both inside and out! YEA!!!!!! There's a variety of different fonts and styles so this is a MUST HAVE! Also don't forget! You have until midnight PST to download the Christmas Daily set ABSOLUTELY FREE. Regina has had such an overwhelming response to this generous offer that she even has a link where you can download it YOURSELF. NO WAITING! Click HERE before it's gone!