It's beginning to look a lot like Chaos!

What's a holiday without a little Chaos, right?

If you're family is anything like mine - the news that Christmas is just a few days away is sitting somewhere loosely between oh-my-gawd-I'm-not-done-yet and we'll get there .. eventually!  Thankfully I've gotten pretty good at planning ahead and squirreling things away here and there, so by this point it's just bits and bites left to finish up the job.

Have been working on swap cards all week, and began updating my blog the other day with the new Valentine's Promotion..   well either the deal was way too hot for my computer, or the idea of discussing Valentines' day before Christmas made it angry with me.  Rebooted after an adobe update, and it wouldn't come back on.

Thankfully my teddy bear is well versed in the ways of the attitudal computer and after only a few days of down time got it back up with only a short hiatus but I'll likely have re place the case on this one sometime soon as there is some weird issue with the power button.

In any case, I wanted to share a couple of cards with you that I made for a Birthday Card Swap among fellow demonstrators.

For the first card, I had an image in my head and decided that I wanted to make the cards more unisex rather than making them pink or flowery.  I just don't find that I often gravitate towards making them and I've been trying to challenge myself each week to use a tool or stamp set I haven't used before or a tool I haven't used in a long time.  This was no exception.  I played with Party Hearty that I only just got as well as a texture embossing folder that I hadn't played with much.

For the second card, I wanted something different - I was going for a simple card that would be easy to reproduce but still elegant enough to be special.  I'd played with ribbon on it a bit but couldn't figure out where to put it in a fashion that made me happy - so I opted for bling and played with the dauber and the shimmer paint, and I just couldn't resist adding a little piece of bling!

Do you find yourself looking through your toys and gravitating towards the same toys over again - take my challenge..  blow the dust off a once loved stamp set or template and see what inspiration comes your way.

I was pretty impressed that with the craft area laid out and on its way to organized just how much easier it's become to sit down and just CREATE.

My hubby moved a shelf downstairs for me at long last so that I can start re-arranging my stamp sets and he built me a database program so that I can finally catalog everything.  In the midst of my frustration of not being able to keep track of all the stamp sets, wheels, dies and such I own anymore that if (Heaven forbid!) anything should happen to any of it that I don't have a record of it all in one place of everything I have (had) to be able to take to insurance or anything. Let me tell you that thought was a tough pill to swallow..  so catalog I must! :)

Watch for the January specials and promotions coming to your inbox over the next couple of days..   The pre-order date for the January Crop is fast approaching - have you booked your spot yet?

It's not too late to order a Gift Certificate for Christmas - I can send your certificate by e-mail if you are pressed for time. Shop my website 24/7 www.iscrapnstamp.stampinup.net or call me if I can be of any help.

I still have a limited number of Christmas and Holiday Cards available for sale - Let me know if you are interested.