Princess Madelyn's Dance Recital

This post was created mainly for my baby sister, Sandy, who listened to me for over a month as I created this labor of love. But I thought some of you might be interested in seeing one of my "non-Stampin' Up!" projects, too.



This is a special gift that I made for my granddaughter, Madelyn, for her second dance recital this past June. This board book came shaped like a purse in plain white chipboard. I added the patterned paper (purple, of course! DUH!), the embellishments, and the photos. This cover shot features a Princess Tiara that flashes with mini lights and the fabric covered heart-button that served as the closure for the book.

I have a new posting program on my blog which is causing me all kinds of problems placing the photos. Please forgive the awkward spacing while I learn how to manipulate this new program. Isn't Madelyn adorable?!?!?

Madelyn is taking dance lessons from Mary Beth Snow at The Dance Place in Ocean City, NJ. Her mother, my oldest daughter, Kristie, studied dance at the same studio under Miss Mary for 12 years while she was growing up in Ocean City. Isn't that cool?

I had to keep the embellishments to a minimum so that the book wouldn't get so thick it wouldn't close! I used mostly shear ribbons around the handles and patterned paper punched into flower shapes. The journaling is printed by hand along the handles. I thought that gave it a nice personal touch that Madelyn can save and treasure for years to come.

The outside back cover of the book has a photo of Madelyn and her adoring Mimi cut out with a heart-shaped punch and a stamp saying "Created for you by Mimi 2009."

~Alice

Stampin' Up! Retired Stamp Set List is here!

The Stampin' Up! Retired Stamp Set List is here!

And... all retired sets are

10% OFF December 9-23!!

And... you get

FREE SHIPPING for all orders over $70

Just click Here to go see the list of stamp sets that shows the 10% discount so you can see how much you're going to save! It's very easy to shop. Just go to my website here and click on SHOP NOW in the upper right hand corner.











LAST REMINDER...





Be sure to send me your Holiday Wish List so that your friends and relatives can contact me to do their Holiday Shopping! The deadline is tomorrow, Dec. 10th. I will deliver the merchandise, wrapped and ready to place under your Christmas tree! Won't it be nice to know the gifts you receive this year will be exactly what you wanted?!?!




Also...

GIFT CERTIFICATES are available in any denomination. These make a great last minute gift for family and friends who craft. Just e-mail me right now! Angelsme@aol.com











Now... I know you're looking for another idea of what to make for last minute gifts, right? Well, I won't disappoint you. My grandson, Braiden, loves Sour Patch Kids candy. So I bought 3 boxes of it, and wrapped each one individually with some of the Holiday Prints Designer Series Paper (DSP) from the Holiday Mini Catalog (which is only available until December 31). Then I stacked them one on top of another, and wrapped the stack with a belly band made from another piece of DSP and topped that with some 5/8" Baja Breeze Striped Grosgrain Ribbon.


Then I had lots of fun adding some SU! Felt Flurries, snowflakes from my Cricut and Martha Stewart punch, all topped with a rhinestone snowflake I picked up last year somewhere. I attached them to the ribbon using one of the Small Library Clips from the Clips Assortment on page 184 in the SU! catalog and only $6.95. What a great stocking stuffer!!


























Ooooooops, how could I forget???!!! It's time for BLOG CANDY!! And I was supposed to pick a winner YESTERDAY!!! I am soooooo sorry. Let's go to random.com and pick a number for our winner! I'll be right back...

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:2
Timestamp: 2008-12-09 18:16:05 UTC


OK... the results are in. It's number 2 which means derr.sandy@gmail.com is our winner! CONGRATULATIONS! Contact me with your snail mail address and I will send you the promised BLOG CANDY!!

Thanks for being so supportive and for coming to my blog regularly. One of my new year's resolutions for 2009 is to be better about posting new ideas and tutorials to my blog. Hey... it's better than trying to stay on a diet, right? hehe
That's it for today. See you next time!

~Alice

It's Never Too Late for Cute Pics of Grandchildren :-)

It's never too late for pictures of my grandsons -- even if Halloween was over two weeks ago... hehe Here is 4-1/2 year old Zion as "The Incredible Hulk"... hehe He's sooooooooooo scary!! (Do you see the little lion complete with tail in the background? How cute is he?!?!?




And here's a closer look at our "King of the Jungle" 18 month-old Declan, my youngest grandson.



Uh-oh... where is my lollipop? hehe





That's all for now. I just wanted to get these pics uploaded before it was Thanksgiving! See you again soon!



~Alice

Easter News

We had a wonderful Easter this year! Our 4-year old grandson, Zion, had lots of fun running around finding the brightly colored plastic eggs filled with chocolate (that had melted in the hot Florida sun).

10-month old Declan enjoyed his first Easter, but didn't really get to eat any of the candy that he wanted to shove into his mouth.

And my DD Shannon prepared a PERFECT meal complete with turkey and all the trimmings. I know, I know... you're supposed to have ham for Easter. But I really do NOT like ham, so Shannon graciously agreed to prepare turkey just to make me happy. Isn't she the GREATEST?!?!

Well, the photo list wouldn't be complete without a pic of DH and my son-in-law so here are the family shots:

I'll have some scrapbook pages for tomorrow. Have a great day!

Alice