JOY.....

Putting a little joy into your life can do wonders for the soul. No that isn't a quote from someone famous, it's just something I believe in. Stamping certainly does that for me and I did a lot of stamping during the holiday weekend. I had the house to myself (which is another joy) and I just stamped until my heart was content. I found these poinsettias six to a package at Hobby Lobby. They were 50% so that brought them down to 16 cents each. Can't beat that when it comes to large embellishments. I did have to take a Copic marker to the yellow centers as they were too bright yellow for the vintage look of my card.

I am in love with the new Martha Stewart punches. The two that I used on this card are the jumbo ones which give a wider/deeper edge. They are perfect for scrapbooking if you punch the edges of larger paper, or they work just fine on a small card. The one I used on the olive green paper is Floral Vine and the other one is Doily Lace Trim.

I used Distress antique linen to vintage it up a bit. If you notice the labels four panels you might think there are three of them but there are really only two. The top white panel and tan are really just one. When I embossed it I left it in the die and sponged it with the distress ink. The die acts as a mask and voila! The sentiment is just a small 99 cent stamp. Brenda who runs the stamping department at Mary Maxim breaks up Hero are sets and then sell them separately. I love that because then I can just buy the ones I want.

Not much to report today. I have yet to start my Christmas cards. I hope to make them this weekend. We had a Christmas potluck get together last night with a group of us who get together once a month to stamp. We didn't do any stamping- we just sat around, laughed and ate. It was a really fun night. I brought the rice as part of the main course and there was plenty left over so tonight I made rice pudding. It is in the oven as we speak and I can't wait for it to be done. Nothing warms you up like a nice bowl of warm rice pudding with raisins and Grey's Anatomy.

Have fun and enjoy!