It's been a long time...

Geez! I feel like it has been forever since I've blogged. But, things have just been crazy-busy around here with the holidays, and getting ready to head back to North Carolina. But, I'm back with so much to share! I don't even know where to begin, so we'll just start off here:



Yep...I finished up with my Banner Project kit from Poppy Ink. The December kit (and ALL of the add-ons) were the BEST yet! I seriously depleted nearly everything from December's stuff, and I haven't even had the kits for a week yet! Of course, I added a lot of my own little extras to the banners too. Here's a close-up of the snowflakes that I used from Pageframe Designs to back the paper stars to give them more strength:



They are very thick, acrylic shapes (they also make tons of other shapes and albums). I LOVE them! They are on the pricey side, though. And, I wasn't sure what I wanted to use them for exactly when I first bought them. But, I knew those paper stars needed something behind them, or they would just get ripped up over the years. I thought these would be the perfect solution! I painted one side of the acrylic snowflake with the Clear Effects Glitter from Making Memories. And, on the other side, I went around the edges of the snowflake with silver Stickles. They're even more beautiful in person! Here's some close-ups of the rest of the banner:





This little banner was made for my friend, DeAnn. You know, the one that made me the adorable little ribbon loop tree?!? I made my own banner too, but I can't post pictures of it just yet. I had to order another package of the Bon Bon Basic Grey chipboard letters because there is only one "Y" in each package. For the life of me, I couldn't think of another Christmasy word that didn't have a "Y" in it for either of the banners, so I had to order another package. I'll post pictures of mine when I get the last letter added.

Moving on...



I started making the monthly dividers for my 7 Gypsies ATC Holder. I'm actually going to use it to start the card-a-day project. So, I got my January divider done. Again, it's even prettier, and more glittery in person! I finally got some spray inks...so freakin' ADDICTIVE!!! I want them all! But, I had originally taken a piece of the KI Pop Culture lace, and laid it over a piece of old book text. Then, I sprayed it with the turquoise ink. I was going to use the book text as the background for my card. But, when I pulled the lace cardstock away, I like the lace itself even more. It has the most beautiful sparkly sheen to it! I'm hooked!

And, since I have been promising peeks of my project for the ScrapMojo Christmas challenge, I finally broke out the camera and took some pics.



I've been so busy, I haven't had a chance to print out all of the pictures for the inside yet. And, obviously, I haven't added any embellies inside, either. But, part of the challenge was to find things around the house to paint with. I repeated the same techniques a couple of times throughout the book, but here are the 4 techniques that I used. Paper Dixie cups dipped in paint for the circles on the cover:



Bubble wrap:



KI Memories POP Culture Lace Paper:



And, some mini-foam roller thingy:



And, with that, I will go ahead and stop for today. I have more to share, but don't want to overload anyone. ;0) I'll be back tomorrow with some more eye candy. Oh, and we put a deposit down on our puppy! Yay! I'm so excited! I'll post some pictures of her parents tomorrow. She hasn't actually been born yet...due in Jan or Feb (depending on which momma dog we get her from). But, I'll be receiving newborn pics as soon as they are born, so I'll be sure to update!

Also, you'll have to wait a few more days for pics of Tina's Christmas present. We are actually going to be doing the exchange sometime this weekend...hopefully. :0) Hope everyone is ready for Christmas. It really snuck up on us this year, didn't it?