Last night we celebrated friend Bill's 70th birthday. First, "Tina Turner" surprised Bill at the dinner table . . .

followed by his limo ride to the Tropicana for the Laugh Factory's Comedy Show. I laughed so hard my ribs still hurt this morning. When we left, I snapped this photo of The Excalibur Hotel because the tower colors were so vivid against the night sky.

Excalibur Hotel in Las Vegas

From Karen Lockhart's Guest Designer website . . .

Lockhart Stamp Company

Guest Artist

"From time to time, we will feature guest artists who will present their unique designs. We hope you enjoy their work. Please feel free to contact them with your questions or comments. Donna Kazee Christmas Card by Donna Kazee Card Close Up We have the best customers in the world! Donna Kazee is the owner of A Small Cleverness, located in Orange, Florida. She sent Karen this wonderful Christmas card, which Karen wants to share with you. Donna has used six Itty Bitty stamps (Candy Striped Candle - 3082, Ornaments - 3047, Three Packages - 3043, Mittens - 3050, Holly Sprig - 3069, Three Tiny Trees - 3070) and one Word stamp (Joy - 10062). Each image is positioned in it's own framed box with a 3D affect created by positioning a second image above and over the background image. Package The card was packaged in a clear plastic sleeve that provides a wonderful way to showcase the card and protect it until opened. For those of you looking for last minute ideas for a holiday card, this might be just what you are looking for. You can find out more about Donna's store at www.asmallcleverness.com. Thank you Donna! Happy Holidays, Karen"

from Cheery Lynn Designs . . .

Snowflake Merry Christmas

by Sandy Hulsart

"If you have been following along on the Cheery Lynn Designs blogs this week, you know that we are doing a joint venture with Hampton Art.  Leave comments on our blogs as well as the Hampton Art blog for a chance to win great prizes.

I love shaped cards and nothing does them better or easier than Cheery Lynn Designs Stacker dies.  For my card today, I chose to use my Scalloped Coved Rectangle set along with the coordinating Silver Coved Rectangle dies.  I used die number 5 (the next to the largest of each set) for my card base and background panel.  Then for the next panel, I used die number 3 from each set.  On the panels cut with my silver stackers, I stamped snowflakes from the Hampton Art Nutcracker Suite 1 IC0204 set using Colorbox Ice Pigment Ink.  This is such lovely frosty pale blue ink, perfect for snowflakes (but a challenge to photograph!)

by Sandy Hulsart

I stamped Hampton Art Snowflake Wreath PS04060A, again with Ice ink and then die cut it out using die number 3 from my Scalloped Circle Stackers die.  As you can see from the pics, I used pop dots between my layers for extra dimension.  The last step was to add my Merry Christmas die cut, which I colored with Ice ink.  Finished size is 5 x 6 5/8 inches."


from Penny Black's blog . . .

Shirley-bee‘s bluesy card is so simple and elegant, isn’t it?

Details at shirley-bee.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/silver-holly.html

From the blog of Lynell Harlow, owner and designer of Dreamweaver Stencils . . .

December Challenge: Frosty Fun!

Ahhh...December! Brrrr....!!! This month we are challenging you to design a wintery delight. It can be something other than paper, but again we will have two winners: "Best interpretation of the challenge" and "best usage of Dreamweaver products". This last month of the year we will award each of these winners a brand new stencil design we are releasing at CHA. (It's a secret until the very end of the month!) Just link up to mr. linky below and if you don't have a blog or Flikr account feel free to email me your creation and I will post your creation on my blog for you.lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com

Today I posted this creation on Paper Craft Planet, click HERE to see more stencil tutorials on their site. This is my frosty creation for this Thursday's Dream Schemes. I was inspired by Pam Hornschu's creations when she did a similar creation on flat ceramic ornaments. So here is my CASEing of her beautiful work. Click HERE to see what she did.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Dreamweaver Embossing Paste
Palette Knife
Paste Spreader
Removable Tape
Flat Glass Ornaments
Gothic Snowflake Ornament (LL396)
Art Institute Glitter (Blue Angel)
Pan for water/scrub brush

STEP #1:
Begin by placing one long piece of removable tape (RMT) at the top of the gothic snowflake stencil(LL396). This piece is referred to as your hinge. When it is time to remove the stencil it will be the last piece of tape to be removed.

STEP #2:
Tape out the rest of the other sides of the stencil and press the tap down firmly onto the stencil so the paste doesn't seep underneath the tape.

STEP #3:
Apply the Dreamweaver Regular Embossing Paste (DEP) to the Dreamweaver Paste Spreader(LM2010) using the palette knife(DPK).

STEP #4:
Gently yet firmly spread the paste into the holes of the stencil with the paste spreader (LM2010). Try to avoid going over the image more than once or twice. This will ensure that the paste doesn't seep under the stencil and cause the image to blur.

STEP #5:
Remove all of the tape except the "hinge" or the first piece you positioned at the top of the stencil. You now remove it just like you would flip open a hinged door. This keeps the print from getting smeared.

STEP #6:
Add a small amount of dishwashing degreaser into a shallow pan of water and immediately put the stencil into this bath. Be sure that when you dry or wash a metal stencil you always keep them flat. This will keep them from getting damaged or bent.

STEP #7:
For the finishing touch, while the paste is still wet sprinkle it with glitter. Because it is past-embossed on glass it will take longer for this to dry than if it were done on paper which is absorbent. This ornament was filled with giant flakes of glitter for extra Frosty Fun...



Our last night in Las Vegas; we head home tomorrow afternoon. We're not coming home with any casino winnings, but we have some very fun and cherished memories of our week. I'll 'see you' soon!