Are you missing Dancing with the Stars?

Well be sad no more.

We've got Dancing gumdrop penguins!

Watch their rumba!

Watch their tango!

ASHLEY!

KAIJA!

And the judges scores...

10!

10!

10!

Amber Ink products used in this post:



WOYWW 130

Well 130 perhaps for a precious few.
I wonder how many were with Julia from the beginning?

I did a quick scan. 

Ours barely reaches Woyww 40 something.
But a precious 40 something it is.
Here's our latest from Amber Ink...

'nuff said.

Hope your week ahead is productive.
Julia helps us to mark the calendar
in one way or another.
Won't we always thank her for that.

On your mark...get set...

GO!!!!

Catching the torch from Debra Miller...

They say that life isn't about finding yourself.  It's about creating yourself. Angela Kelley  has created a mighty fine life.  After living in Oregon, Kansas and Finland, she has chosen to build her menagerie in Northern California where she has room for big love Patch the dog, four cats, a plethora of  birds and fish, two adorable children and one love of her life. At this time of year you can find her baking lemon curd or shortbread, decorating the Christmas tree with the children, teaching her monthly paper-crafting and card making classes or using her talents to create store displays in her area.  Just follow the map until you see this sign:  Artistic Detours  Then you'll know that you've arrived.

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Catching the torch from Leigh Penner ...

This little girl dreamt of becoming a princess and Ashley N. Newell sure seems like royalty to us.  If there is any doubt, just read her CV.  You've seen her work frequently in publications, on crafting blogs and you tube. Talk about adhering, Ashley can Divine Twine tie it, love your tape it, or tie it in a pretty ribbon carousel bow.   She met her husband at the age of 16 and he's been her shining knight ever since.  Together they have two little princes charming, ages 4 and 2.  If you need any more proof of Ashley's regality we can prove it - she doesn't do "outdoors", doesn't like her food touching and won't eat canned peas.  There.  Go and wish upon a star @ Ashley's Heart Hugs Design.

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Catching the torch from Meredith Winston...

Stampin' Angel Jenn Borjeson is always first out of the gates and eager to fly to the highest cloud.  She has a spunk and enthusiasm that might make you want to soar too.  She comes from a big New England family and keeps up with two teenagers, a husband, the upstairs FIL, lots of cousins, aunts and uncles, an 8 year old big baby cat, freelance artwork, an abundance of Design Teams and a new job. Whew!  She really does need wings, even if they're the buffalo boneless variety.  Jenn loves color, whether it be in the form of colorful tattoos or prismas with mineral spirits.  Sometimes you might even find this unconventional angel covered in glitter.  You'll have to ask her for the explanation though.  You don't have to bring your halo, but you're sure to leave with a spring to your step after a visit to http://stampinangeljenn.blogspot.com/.

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Catching the torch from Jessica ...

Shirl is joining us from the Big Island of Hawaii.  For the rest of us this might be a little difficult.  By that we mean you might want to shield your eyes when you look at the current temperature gauge on the sidebar.  78 and partly cloudy.  You'll find Shirl's blog to be warm and balmy too.  It is filled with Aloha, from surfing cards to beach boy lyrics, money cards and graduations.  This is Hawaii No Ka 'Oi . We hope you know the lingo, because we're talking BFF's, GF's, SBF's, SIL's, and DD's.  We promise that the pictures will say 1000 words @ http://creationbyshirl.blogspot.com/

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The days are getting dark and cold in Southern Finland, but the light is always shining on Kaija's work.

White lace and pearls, expert folds and watercolor...the kind of art that only happens when you have incredible talent and  can't go outside to play.  We are so fortunate to have Kaija running our torch in winter, when the warmth of chocolate or coffee and cream combined with an arctic light gives a pink  incandescent glow to everything she creates.  Her work will leave you oblivious of anything else.  Go see Kaija at  Kaija Everyday.blogspot.com

FIVE Photo Finishes!

Absolutely Wonderful...

DEBRA!

JESSICA!

LEIGH!

MEREDITH!

PIPERTAJA!

Look at those projects!!!

And the people who made them are even more wonderful!

Guess what tomorrow is?

YEP...We're passing torches.

Come see who makes the catch!

Thanks also for thinking about our Pinny Party!

We sure had fun.

Every Saturday.

Here.

The winner for week #1...

LINDSEY

She'll be getting a $5 gift certificate for ipaper

so she can make more cool stuff for our Pinny Party!

Pinny Party #1

A few guidelines:

• Our link parties are Saturday and Sunday only (it's a weekend thing).
• Please make sure that there is paper in your project.
• Please link directly to your entry, not just to your blog.
• Please credit the rePin from PINTEREST and put a photo of it in your post.
• Whenever possible, visit each other's blogs to comment. 

---------------------------------

My repin today comes from Wendy Price

I LOVE these straws and thought - hey...wonder if you can make those.

I couldn't find directions anywhere so time for an experiment.

While these work great for pixie sticks I wouldn't suggest sipping.

Not that they're toxic or anything.  Flour and water glue. 

I left one in water for 4 days and although the paper doesn't bleed

when you suck - it collapses.  Sucks.  Bet you could wrap it around a plastic straw

and it would work fine.  Haven't been there or done that yet.

So here's the scoop...

Whoops - after step 5 let it dry.  Could be 1 hour, could be overnight.  Depends on where you live.

Voila!  Edible pixie dust in a pixie stick.
The gourmet version is in Wendy's original pin.

Either way it's perfect for your little Elf on the Shelf!

Okay.

Your turn.

One random winner gets a $5 gift certificate.

For what?

More paper of course.
Elf images are HERE!

Pink, Blue, Bronze, Orange and Purple Friday!

Way more fun than black.

LEIGH!

JESSICA!

DEBRA!

Maybe it is black Friday

It's our November Torchbearer's last day.

Oh, not rain.  Just tears.

Tomorrow is our First ever Pinny Party though.

That should take our minds off of it.

Be sure to make something with paper that you've pinned on Pinterest.

Come back tomorrow and link it up.

Amber Ink products used in this post:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Okay...Here are a couple of firsts for me.

My mom got a hankerin' for mincemeat pie.

I figure since she is 89 and still a joy

I will cave.

Yep - using her recipe (mincemeat, lemon jello and cream cheese...say what?)

I think it will be right up there with liver and onions,

but  according to Dhubs, put enough whip cream on anything

and it will taste alright.

Another first...

Decided to do a trial run on our Pinny Party.

Since I am finally a participant I thought I'd make a go of it.

It is Thanksgiving.  No one should complain.

We should be giving thanks people!

So, I pinned these...

Via Melanie Kropf from http://www.craftaholicsanonymous.net/ 

Then I picked some funky pink and purple ipaper

Then I cheated a little (sorry) since I don't have the proper tools -

but you should use the proper tools. 
You can SO tell the difference

in that mine are wobbly and not worthy. 

But it is my first and it is Thanksgiving.

So here are my fat little birds sitting on the window ledge.

And here is a fat little bird on the table.

I paired this puppy turkey with  Haviland and gold cutlery.

Next I sat a pink plastic plate ala turkey on top of pink Fostoria Versaille dessert glasses

(thank you grandmother) with hand inscribed ipaper name tags. 

Throw in a little dollar store gift shred

and man o man...looks like a million bucks!

Happy Thanksgiving.

Hope to see you at our pinny party on Saturday.

In the meantime...that mincemeat pie is calling me...

NOT!

WOYWW 129!

Okay.

We'll play.

The elves are about and mischief is in the air.

Nuff said.

Are you a fellow Pinterest addict?
If you are, then bookmark us and come back on Saturday to play.
We are starting a new link up party.

Just find something you've pinned using paper.
Make it your way.
Blog it your way.
Come back and link it.

Nothing like an addiction with a purpose.
If you're not a Pinnychic yet, run over and get an invite, so you're ready on the big day!

Want more of the really good stuff?

Check out the fairy queen's blog herself

 @ http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/

How does JLo unwind after the AMA awards?

Well it was the whole thing she was singing about!!!

You get down on the FLO (floor)

You work on the FLO (floor)

You write letters on the FLO (floor)

okay, so I made the last line up.  It happens.

LUCIANNA!

And we all know who she's missing right?_________.

You can fill in the blank on that one.

I spied this stunner on the Totally Papercrafts Challenge blog this morning.

The theme is black and white.

This card required (yes, required) it's own blogpost.

See that background paper?

The stuff in the very back?

A .50 saying stamp.

This one...

Repeated over and over again to make the most striking b/w paper.

Next paper...crackle dot ipaper...

And look at those 3 little white dots on the black.

The devil is in the details friends.

Finally our sweet little love bird

Lucianna inversed her to get white on black.

Then she did some expert shading and highlighting with a white prisma

and voila...

Darling...

 get down on the FLO!

Yowza. 

 Now that is hot.

Amber Ink products used in this post:

A Silhouette Challenge from Less is More

We are sponsoring the Less is More challenge this month. 

The challenge through Friday is to create a card using the theme of  silhouettes.

Perfect time and place to reprint Mel's Tutorial.

...create silhouettes from line art images:

DIGITAL SILHOUETTE:

Open the silhouette in Photoshop

(or other digital software that is

capable of filling images with solid colour.)

Fill all the areas of the line art image

Then print it & use your image:

This digital fill is how I did the ones I used on the cards above

(but not with a deep black. I like using black at 80% to get a silhouette

that reads as dark, but still shows some of the line art of the image.)

You can even get a funky patterned silhouette:

Simply fill the image with a pattern

(Please see this tutorial post if you'd like

to see how pattern filling works).

STAMPED SILHOUETTE:

Stamp the image & then simply colour it in:

To create a patterned stamped silhouette:

Stamp the line art image, then stamp & heat emboss a pattern over it

(with clear embossing powder) then colour it in.

So what's cookin' good lookin'?

Ready to be #100?

LESS IS MORE

And this just in...Lucianna accepted the challenge with this gorgeous silhouette...

LUCIANNA!

Pure class.

Amber Ink products used in this post:

Chuffed for a challenge!

We are so excited to be sponsoring

Totally PaperCrafts Friday Challenge 

this week.

Who would think that black and white could be so inspiring?

Somehow it whittles away at all the fluff to show pure talent.

And MAN o MAN do we have talent!

(Insert drumroll here...)

DEBRA!

JESSICA!

LEIGH!

MEREDITH!

PIPERTAJA!

and our dear friend...

JOEY!

In the words of Coco:

Black has it all.

 White too.

Their beauty is absolute.

It is the perfect harmony.

We'd love for you to be so inspired.

You have time.

While the pies are baking.

It could be a win/win.

Amber Ink products used in this post: