Happy New Year!

Well, I still don't have a means of posting pictures (other than downloaded clipart) using my temporary replacement computer, but the good news is that the new motherboard is finally "in the house" and ready to be installed as soon as awesome Cousin Mark can come and do it. I'm not touching that thing again!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I know I did! My fabulous kids and kids-in-law bought me a new flat-screen HTDV. How awesome is that?!!! My son-in-law said he'd come and hook it up when Cablevision delivered my HD DVR, and that came last night too! Can't wait!!! It's gonna be a good weekend!

As far as the new year goes, I am only too happy to say goodbye to 2009. While some really good things did happen (like my son marrying my beautiful, wonderful and talented daughter-in-law), there were some really crappy things this year, too. Let's hope that 2010 kicks 2009's butt!

I have actually been looking forward to spending this New Year's Eve quietly at home alone. This is my plan: since my goal for 2010 is to finally get published, I will spend tonight making cards for submission. At least one — we'll see how the mojo goes. I have a split of champagne (a favor from my cousin's wedding this past spring) chilling in the refrigerator, so I'm good to go!

I want to thank you for following my blog, and I hope to have lots of papercrafting goodness (and maybe a cake or two!) for you to gaze upon soon.

I wish you all a happy, HEALTHY, and prosperous new year.

So sad....

I have no pictures to post for you until after Christmas. Sadly, the motherboard on my computer is fried, according to my awesome cousin Mark (everyone should have a cousin Mark!), although as far as he can ascertain, it has nothing to do with anything I might have done (whew!). I've ordered a replacement board, which he will install when it comes, but it won't be until after Christmas.

I do have pictures of the holiday cards I finally sent out (well, most of them, anyway), but they are stuck in the limbo that is my hard drive. Thankfully, awesome cousin Mark lent me a little netbook to use until the new motherboard (hopefully) gets me back up and running. So I will take this opportunity to wish you all a happy, healthy, and joyous holiday. Hopefully I'll be able to post some eye candy before the new year!

Happy Sweet 16!

Yesterday was my niece Hannah's 16th birthday (how did that happen?!!!), and since she should have gotten her card by now, it's safe to post it here. I raided my stash make it as sparkly as possible, and used a cupcake theme because they are as sweet as she is.

The "sweet" letters are some glitter stickers I had in my stash, and the bling-y "16" is from the Zva Alphabet. The glittery hearts are from a K & Co pack I had in my stash (I have a really big stash). I used my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder on the Chocolate Chip CS to give the background some texture. The patterned circles are cut from pieces in my stash also. I know one of them is from my Urban Prairie pad. I think Kate at i {heart} papers used to carry the cupcake paper, but I don't see it any more. The cupcake stamp is from Papertrey Ink. I embossed the bottom with brown EP, and I coated the top of it with Rock Candy Stickles.

Anyhow, if you're reading this, Hannah, I hope you had a wonderful day — and as I said in the card, your present is on its way!

Eat, Drink & Be Merry (an IHP challenge)

This month our DT Challenge Coordinator (Deb) gave us sort of a double challenge — we had to use one of the new My Mind’s Eye collection kits, and whatever we made with it had to have something to do with “Eat, Drink & Be Merry.”

I interpreted this as being anything to do with a party, so I used a sheet of the adorable paper from the Love Me Do collection kit and made a party popper favor and a cupcake wrapper (using the Bigz Perfect Settings die from SU!). You can see that the paper is double-sided, so it was perfect for this. The yellow tissue paper was the only color I had laying around at the moment (how lucky was I?), and the ends of the favor are tied with Red 1/4” Glimmer Ribbon. The favor itself, of course, is made from an empty TP roll. (And yes, I made the cupcake – several actually!)

Both pieces are super-easy. Just because this kit is intended for Valentine’s Day doesn’t limit you to that one occasion! Can’t you just see a whole table decorated with coordinating favors and cupcakes for a birthday party?

Do you have any “Eat, Drink & Be Merry” ideas to share? Join the challenge, and let me know! If you post it in a gallery, use the keyword ihp1209 so we can find it.

And check out the rest of the design team to see how they met the challenge:

Amber
Cathleen
Deb
Gretchen
Kate
Kendra
Lori
Lynn
Megan
Merry
Tracy (check hers a little later – around 11am)

Have a great day!

On the 12th day of Christmas...

i {heart} papers is the sponsor of Day 12 (12 drummers drumming) of the 12 Days of Christmas event over at Paper Craft Planet. It's a fun scavenger hunt, so go play for a chance to win!

Home for the Holidays

This is how I spent the better part of today – making this adorable gift box that looks like a cozy holiday cottage. Lauren Meader is a freakin’ genius – how she comes up with these templates is beyond me. Yes, it is very time consuming to make one of these (definitely not for mass production!), but the precision with which the pattern was made makes it go together perfectly.

I didn’t add a whole lot of detail, and I forgot about the curtains for the windows until I was doing the sides of the house, but I really just wanted to see how much of a PITA it would be to construct the first time. Like I said, time consuming, but not difficult.

I have no idea who I’m giving this to (if I can even bear to part with it), or what I’d put inside. You can’t tell from the photo, but the house is only about 5” from the bottom to the peak of the roof. It is fairly sturdy, though I don’t know how much weight I would put in it. I’ll have to give it some thought, but whoever gets it is gonna have to be someone pretty darned special!

What I used:
Stamps: PTI Home Made & Believe (for the wreath on the door)
Ink: Palette Charcoal, PTI Terracotta Tile & Lemon Tart, Copic markers
Paper: SU Bordering Blue & Going Grey, Classic Crest White, scrap of terracotta patterned paper from my Marrakech pad (Basic Grey)
Other: PTI Home Made template, Polar White Flower Soft, PTI Terracotta Tile satin ribbon