It's All About the Smiles!

"You're doing the same thing you've always done:  bringing smiles - joy - to others.  Just in a different way."   A good friend told me that about seven years ago.  

Your body releases endorphins when you smile, (even a forced one!), which improves your mood and relieves stress.  

Well, you won't need three guesses to guess my mood this weekend while visiting Baby Louisa (aka Honey Girl).  I was drunk on smiles, hers and mine! 

I had quit teaching when my good friend (and mom of one of my first graders) gave me her sage advice.  Yes, she was trying to make me feel better when I told her that I felt like I was no longer doing anything important.  She did make me feel better, although I did roll my eyes at her!

I found myself thinking about her advice this weekend and although my creations are no comparison to Louisa, they still make me smile.   Blogging is a great way to give and receive smiles.  Who knew that through sharing, we are improving moods and relieving stress!

Thank you for sharing with me and letting me share with you!

You probably already know that this image with a sweet, happy girl and a cat (black!) is a smile magnet for me. 

And just in case your endorphins are spiking, I've got her as a download for you below.

I used my new sponge brayers on the background.  Also check out my new Woodware Snowflakes stamp.  The snowflakes are really pretty (and I have a very limited number of snowflake stamps available in my etsy store.)

Thank you so much to all of the lovely ladies who share their inspiration with us - talk about endorphins going crazy!  I so enjoyed every one of the three Visions of Sugarplums days.

Thank you, too, to all of you who shared the three days with all of us.  Hope you enjoyed a smile or two or three!   Maybe you still have Visions of Sugarplums dancing in your head!

And of course, a big thank you to all of the sponsors who so generously supported Visons of Sugarplums!

Winners:  Contact me by email ASAP to claim your prize.  You can click my email in the sidebar (lhairston@cox.net).  

Drumroll, please!  The Visions of Sugarplums 2016 winners are:

Scrappamondo:  The Cutting Café :   Orange You Cute Kit

Rebecca Yahrling:  Paper Sweeties:  $25 gift certificate

Jo Jo's Scrap Shack:Lawn Fawn:  $25 gift certificate

cm:  Pretty Pink Posh:  $25 gift certificate

Fiki:  The Funkie Junkie Boutique:  $25 worth of new Tim Holtz Christmas Idea-ology Products

Carol from LaCrosse:  Birch Press Design:  $20 gift certificate

Jennifer Scull:  The Twinery:  Sample Pack


Congratulations, winners (you're smiling, right?)!  Wish I could give everyone a prize!

 Download Winter Pals HERE.

Dropbox works differently for different people.  Either right click and save when image appears or click the download button in the top right corner.  If neither method works, email me and I'll send the files to you.

I want to take just a moment to share this card from Greta.  (There go those endorphins again!)  Thank you so much, Greta, for making me such an adorable baby card - it makes me smile!

Have a wonderful week and smile all you can (even if you have to occasionally force it)!

Die-namics Pierced Snowflakes	Let It Snowflake	snowflake pendant dies	Snowflakes Clear Stamp
sponge brayer	Fresh Ink Teal	Grafix clear craft plastic	Therm O Web 1/4 SUPERTAPE
Accent Opaque White 120lb	Stampendous Winter Wonderland	Tsukineko Versamark	Aleene's Tacky Glue
tombow mono glue

InLinkz.com

Visions of Sugarplums Day Three

Welcome back!  We're right in the middle of a fun week of Christmas!  

Today I've got a couple of projects featuring graphics from Cameo Shoppe.  Cristina is one of the sponsors of Visions of Sugarplums and is generously offering a giveaway every day!

First up is a pillow box that I made with a Pillow Box Punch Board.  (I've put one of these in the Mega GiveAway.)  It is a pretty cool tool!  You can see one of Cameo Shoppe's circle images there.  Isn't the pink tree pretty?  It's a part of the Christmas Circle Tags set.

I guess I'm not tired yet of the gusseted bags.  This one is a fun size!  

I used a couple more of the pretty circle tags to create snowflakes.  I think these images are just adorable!  If you want to know how to make the 3D snowflakes, you can see them HERE.

Here's how to make the skinny bag with a rounded flap:

You need two sheets of printed paper.  Cut one panel to 6" x 10 3/4".  Score at 1/2", 1", and 1 1/2".  Also score at 4 1/2", 5", and 5 1/2".  

Turn it and score at 1/2" and 8 3/4".

Cut away the top corners on the 8 3/4" score line and on the 1/2" score line from above.  To make the rounded flap. use a circle die.  When you run it through your die cutting machine, don't run it all the way through.  Stop at the 8 3/4" score line - otherwise you'll just have cut a big circle out! 

Fold the gussets (instructions HERE).  Fold up the bottom 1/2".  Cut a second panel to 3" x 8 3/4".  Die cut a half circle into the top.   And glue it to the gusseted panel.  Fold the flap over and you're done!

     Cameo Shoppe - Cupcakes Set

      Moonlighting by Mary -  one digital set

      Kitty Bee Design - one digital image

      Studio Shine Vintage - one digital set

      Vintage Bella - two digital sets

These are a few of my favorite shops!  Thank you so much to all of them!

In your comment, please let me know that you would like to win.  Comment here and then comment on all the participating blogs listed below.  Your name will go in a hat (or basket or bowl) for your comment here.  You will also get your name put in additional times for each comment left on the other blogs.  When the prizes for one day are won, those names are taken out, but all the other names stay in the hat.  

Be sure to check back daily to see if you have won!

The Mega Giveaway grows every day and the winner will be announced Saturday, December 6th.  Everything shown in this section every day will be a part of the Mega Giveaway.  Here is the third picture:

      

Krista - Cameo Shoppe

Misteejay (Toni) - Vintage Bella 

Char - Cameo Shoppe

Debbie - Studio Shine Vintage

Jean - Kitty Bee Design

Char

 Lisa

   Sandy

   Regina

  May

Go say "Hi!" to all these lovely ladies and enjoy their Christmas projects!

See you tomorrow!

Butterfly and Snowflakes with Paper Sweeties

I love the idea that snowflakes are winter's butterflies!  Even now (as old as I am) when big, pretty snowflakes fall, I want to run out and catch them on my tongue.  Since it's about 100 degrees right now, those snowflakes are just a fond memory.  And something to look forward to!  

It's time for a new Paper Sweeties Sketch Challenge.  Here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

The sentiment is from the Friendship Warms the Heart stamp set.  Check the Paper Sweeties Blog for all the Challenge details.  Hope you join us!  

Supplies

snowflake die    |    butterfly die    |    snowflake punch

chevron die    |    medallion embossing plate

Wreath of Wishes for My Time Made Easy

Welcome to the last day of the October Release at My Time Made Easy.  This is such a pretty little template - it's the Wreath of Wishes.   

I used the It's Snowing Cut File to create all the snowflakes on top.  And I used two of the pretty vintage hat pins my mom found for me.   The sentiment is from Homemade Holiday Sentiments.  Here's a side view:

Enjoy more projects here:

Lauren Meader
Tangii Crane

Debbie Marcinkiewicz
Pattie Goldman

Lisa Kind

Lori Kalus

Kimberly Morrow

Tina Hale

 

So glad you stopped by!

Visions of Sugarplums - Day Two

Welcome!  It's Day Two of Visions of Sugarplums. We have quite a few treats scheduled for you.   Hope you got to see all the posts yesterday!

I'm sharing snowflakes today.  This first ornament uses book pages and I can't tell you how hard it was for me to tear out a page from a book the first time I did it!  I LOVE books and it just seems so wrong to tear one up.  It made it a little easier that someone gave me some pages that were already loose for the first project I did a couple of years ago.  Now, I tend to keep books that I didn't enjoy very much and don't seem to feel quite so bad about those!  

To make this pretty snowflake, you'll need 16 strips 1 1/8" x 5 1/2", then die cut one edge on each one.   Fold 8 in half with a crease and staple open end.   Make a loop with the other 8 and staple the open end.   Hot glue the pieces to a piece of cardstock. 

 Then you can age and add glitter to the edge.   I added a snowflake purchased from Michaels (and glittered gold), a scallop red circle and a vintage image in the middle.  Hot glue seems to work best for adding the gold snowflake to the book page snowflake.

Or you can create a pretty snowflake without the book page part.  

These snowflakes come white and they take glitter pretty well.   I like to let a little of the white show through.  It seems to add some depth to the snowflake.

If you would like a copy of my snowflake middles you can click and save the image below.

How about a couple of very simple projects using snowflakes?  This tag is oh, so easy, but cool, too! 

Love the contrast of the felt and the green gem.  I die cut two tags and glued a piece of felt between.   Clean and simple (which is actually a little hard for me to do)! 

What do you think about these snowflake clothespins?  They are stamped with Versamark Ink and heat embossed.  Can't wait to add them to a project!

Today, Regina from The Cutting Cafe is giving away a wonderful collection from her store.  Regina has so many digital files and templates to choose from and her creations are terrific!  For every comment left here and on all of today's participating blogs you will get an entry to win the following treat boxes:  Christmas tree, Peppermint Candy, Snowman and Present.  On top of that, you get to select three other sets from the store!   WOW and thank you, Regina!  Be sure to visit her blog to see other goodies made with templates from her store.

Here is the snowman treat box I made from Regina's set:

And there is even more fun!  Ira is posting today.  Her creations are always a must see.  I'm practically speechless when I see them!  She sent me some preview pictures and let me tell you her candles are beautiful.  Be sure to see them!  Christina from I Gotta Create, is posting some cool napkin rings.  Can't wait to see them!  Mika has another Christmasy recipe to share and Jennifer has wonderful family tradition ideas.  If you haven't seen my giveaway, check it out in the previous post.  Here is today's addition to my giveaway:

This cling stamp set will be added to everything pictured yesterday!  Remember, all you have to do is leave a comment here (and any comments on the participating blogs above count, too) for a chance to win one of two identical giveaways.  So glad you stopped by today!