FROM OUR HOUSE TO YOURS - MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Wishing you and your families a very Merry Christmas!

I want to take this opportunity to say a sincere Thank You to each and every one of you who take the time out of your busy days to come visit my little blog. It means the world to me that you make the effort, and for those of you who leave such sweet and caring comments, they really are appreciated. I have been so blessed to make some really special friends along this journey, which I cherish dearly! I can't thank you enough!

For my DT sisters who work so hard each week creating such fabulous cards and projects, I can honestly say that I am so blessed to be a part of a team with all of you. Your inspiration runs deep and your friendship touches my heart.

To Priscilla from Midnight Madness whose undying drive helps keep us in check and makes us challenge ourselves...Thank You!

To the ever talented Mr. Dustin Pike who keeps the team enthralled with his art work and patiently waiting for his next creations.....Thank You! Between the two of you, I have the perfect balance with my cyber bosses and couldn't ask for more dedicated individuals to work with.

And so as Christmas is almost here, I leave you with this, a few photos of our Christmas tree and a little gingerbread house that I made with my little boy Thijs. I hope you enjoy them.

May you and your families all be blessed with a Beautiful Christmas full of love and happiness!

Have a safe Christmas and I will see you real soon!
Extra warm hugs,
Charlotte
XXX

MIDNIGHT MADNESS (MMSC33)

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

I hope that you are all well and ready for Christmas, staying warm and cozy indoors if you have been in an area that was affected by the blizzard! Wow, so much snow everywhere and yet none down here in Miami!!! I definately live in the wrong place!! I'm sure many of you are finishing last minute preparations or are already busy with family and friends just as I will be soon. I'm taking off to find some colder weather!!

I didn't think that I would have a card for you this week as I had my little boy home from school with a high fever. It turned out that it must have been a 48 hour bug because the fever left as quickly as it came on.

My card is not one of my favorites but I guess you can't like all of them the same can you? I love the martini glass which is brushed metal with the added little sparkle of the red gem, but I had a hard time thinking of what background paper to use.

Our Midnight Madness Masterpiece Award this week goes to
Teri Sherman #13

Our Midnight Madness Remarkables go to

Sue Drees #20

Ms Plum #21

Congratulations to our winners and also for all the players that joined in with the challenge last week. For those of you getting ready for MMSC33 have fun with it.

Sorry this is such a short post but I still have so many things to get ready for my trip! Stay tuned and I will be back! Until then I want to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas!
Hugs,
Charlotte

MIDNIGHT MADNESS (MMSC32) SWEET TREATS!

We hope that you enjoyed our Christmas Blog Hop last week and were inspired by our lovely Design Team's Cards and Projects! Remember you have until Midnight tonight to enter your name in Mr. Linky for the Blog Hop and the Sketch Challenge if you haven't done so already. Thank you so much to all of you that participated. We really enjoyed viewing all your wonderful comments and appreciated your flattering responses. We will be randomly drawing names tomorrow for the prizes and announcing the winners on Friday. Good Luck to all of you who entered and be sure to check back for the winners.

This week we have another little treat for you. Our design team chose to feature a "Baking" theme with our sketch this week. Lots of people bake for the Holidays and share their yummy goodies with family and friends. We wanted to share with you a way to present those homemade gifts. This is a tradition in many a households that sure has been made easier with today's premade cookie doughs found in your grocer's dairy case. But, there is nothing like the smell and taste of made from scratch cookies. They fill your home with the fragrance of spices and chocolate. They can be crisp, buttery, rolled, glazed, sprinkled, frosted, decorated, filled with jelly, coconut or nuts and even fried. So, with that in mind, be sure to check each of our Design Team's blogs because we have shared with you some of our favorite cookie recipes for the Holiday Season.

Our Gold Star Winner Winner this week is:

#73 Jessica G

Our Remarkables this week are:

#37 Mrs. Plum

#64 Vickie (basement stamper)

Congratulations to all our winners, please collect your badge and wear it proudly!

Our monthly sponsor is

Our weekly sponsor is

Here is my project for this week.....hope you like it!

I decided to re-use a little box I had laying around and make it into a cookie holder. I love to be able to recycle things that I have around the house, don't you?  I used a couple of Dustin Pike's adorable gingerbread girlies and chose to make the box in my favorite color.....pink! I have to admit, I just love how this one turned out!

The box top opens up to reveal the recipe for Oatmeal Raisin Cookies on a little tag card, the directions for the recipe are on the back of the tag. The top little gingerbread girlie is the gift tag where you can write your own sentiments. The box itself....well it's full of cookies of course, both Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Raisin!!! Well it was when I took the photos! On the back and front of the box are candy canes...and they are still there!!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 3/4 cups rolled oats

1 cup raisins

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

In large bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Gradually beat into butter mixture. Stir in oats and raisins. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. Cool slightly, remove from sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Enjoy them!

Thank you so much for stopping by today, I truly appreciate all the lovely comments you leave me each week!

Have a wonderful week!

Hugs,

Charlotte

MIDNIGHT MADNESS (MMSC31) BLOG HOP!!

Welcome to our Midnight Madness Christmas Blog Hop. We know this is a busy time of year for everyone so we are including our blog hop with our regular weekly Challenge MMSC #31. We invite you to participate in our challenge by making a card from our fabulous sketch and to be inspired by the projects on our blogs and make a matching ornament or small project. You are not required to do the project, but it would be a treat for us to see what you come up with and we would love it!!! You also do not have to do the sketch to participate in the blog hop. As an added bonus, we are going to do something a little different this time around. Each of our Design Team is offering up their card and project as a prize. WOW, a chance to own a Midnight Madness Card and design!!!

1 Blog Hop GRAND Prize Drawing (PRIZE TO BE ANNOUNCED)

12 Design Team Featured Card with Ornament/Small Project Random Drawing

1 PRETTY PAPER Christmas Card drawing from the 12 Highlighted on Each DT Blog from the MMSC#28

You have until Tuesday, December 15, 2009 12 p.m. Midnight EST to enter your MMSC#31 in Mr. Linky at Priscilla’s Midnight Madness Blog as always to be eligible for the Regular Weekly Bonus Prize.

If you would like your name entered in for the MIDNIGHT MADNESS BLOG HOP PRIZES, you will have to follow the directions below……..

1. To be eligible for the Blog Hop Grand Prize, 12 Design Team Card/Project Drawing, and Pretty Paper drawing; you must leave a comment on each of the Designer’s Blog’s during your journey through the Hop. Once your name has been chosen, we will check to make sure you have commented on each blog before you are notified.

2. Enter your name and the words BLOG HOP in Mr. Linky, to be eligible for the Blog Hop prizes. As an added bonus, if you do the sketch you can enter you link to your card/project and have two entry chances for the prizes.

3. In order to have a chance at winning any of the prizes, except for the Regular Weekly Bonus. you must gather a secret phrase along the Blog Hop. Each Design Team Member will have a particular word or words listed on their blog and as long as you visit them in order, you will have the secret phrase at the end. If you are picked as a Prize winner you will be contacted by email and you must email back the secret phrase WITHIN 48 HOURS to claim your prize. If there is no response within the 48 hour time frame, another winner will be chosen until all prizes are awarded. To start off, you must begin at Pricilla’s Midnight Madness Blog! If you have not started there, I suggest you go back and begin again . . . you don’t want to miss out on the Prizes! If you have arrived from Chris then you are on the correct course. If you want a chance to win you will have to follow the instruction listed above. Thank you and have fun on the Hop.

If you would like to be considered for the Christmas Blog Hop Prizes, and you DO NOT have a blog, you still can participate. You will have to follow the directions below……..

1. Leave a comment on the Midnight Madness Blog Hop comment section with your email address, first name and last name initial.

2. Link up to Mr. Linky with first name, last name initial, the words BLOG HOP and in the URL space enter this address http://priscillastyles.blogspot.com/

Pretty Paper Christmas Card Picks

Pretty Paper, Pretty Ribbon of Blue,

Wrap your presents to your darling from you,

Pretty pencils to write I love you,

Pretty paper, Pretty Ribbons of Blue.

I chose this beautiful card by Christina C. I just love this adorable image and all the wonderful details she put into it from the snowflakes to the lace, the reindeers and pearls. Such a gorgeous creation. Please check out the rest of her lovely creations over on Splitcoast Stampers.

We as paper crafters and card makers go crazy over pretty paper, pretty pencils, and pretty ribbons. Probably most of you are wishing for a special paper crafting tool or treat to be under the Christmas Tree with your name on it this year!!!! This song fits the mood and tempo of all us out there crafting away for the Christmas Holiday. For something Festive for the Season we want to feature our favorite cards from MMSC#28 to honor our Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge Players who played along with us that week. Our Pretty Paper card choices will need to do the blog hop, leave a comment at each of the Design Team Blogs, and collect a word from each of the blogs visited for the winning phrase and place their name in Mr. Linky with “blog hop” after their name at Priscilla’s Midnight Madness Blog! We will enter your name in a drawing for one winner from our 12 entries. We will email you when we verify that you have entered your name in Mr. Linky and have left a comment on each of the Design Team Blogs, you will need to email back the phrase in order to qualify for your prize. Even if your card has been chosen for the “Pretty Paper” you are still eligible for the other prizes.

Our Gold Star Winner Winner this week is:

#34 Sue Drees

Our Remarkables this week are:

#13 Christina C.

#44 Kreativemonster

My Project

For my project I made an easel card using a cute snowman stamp and of course it had to have the Christmas Trees in the background...I love Christmas trees! Then I recycled the inside ring of some scor tape, wrapped and tied two reels of ribbon around it, hand sewed the holly and poinsettia buttons and added the flower. The sentiment is taped to a circle of accetate in the middle of the wreath. Hope you like it! Don't forget to add your comments if you would like the chance to win this sweet set!
Sponsors

Our Monthly sponsor is FranticStamper - http://www.franticstamper.com/

BLOG CANDY

Each design team member is offering their cards and projects as blog candy. For a chance to win my card or ornament, please just leave a comment on this post. If you do not have a blog, please leave your email address and name (first and last) in the comment as well. A winner will be randomly chosen after our Blog Hop is over on 12/15. The winner will be announced on Wednesday, 12/16.

Revealing the Word for the Secret Phrase

Your next word can be found at Carolyn's blog. Thank you for playing in our weekly challenges and for all your support each week. Everyone at Midnight Madness would like to wish you and yours a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year. We thank you for joining us in our special Christmas Blog hop and invite you to participate in the sketch challenge this week with a small project of your own. Here at Midnight Madness we are looking forward to 2010 with more exciting fun and prizes and meeting and making friends with all of our participants past, present and future. Thank you and good luck winning the prizes!!!

Hugs & Christmas Wishes!

Charlotte

MIDNIGHT MADNESS (MMSC30)

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Wow it seems ages since I posted anything, I'm dragging way behind lately! Thought I was catching up but it actually doesn't appear to be that way!! Anyone else in the same boat? Or am I all alone out in the ocean??

OK, ON TO THE IMPORTANT STUFF!!!!

YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS WHAT IS GOING ON HERE AT THE MIDNIGHT MADNESS BLOG!!!

First, I just have to let you all know, that you HAVE to check back on Friday because we are doing a HUGE HUGE GIVEAWAY!!! Believe me when I say, you do not want to miss THIS!!! The CHRISTMAS BLOG HOP is coming December 8th-15th. The Design Team has a few little surprises up their sleeves to get you in the festive holiday mode. So do your MMSC#30 card and link it up here, put on some Christmas music, put up your decorations and get ready to join us in a festive celebration.
Our Gold Star Winner this week is:  #23 Super Nan..Congratulations on your award....Enjoy it!

Our Remarkables this week go to: #2 Karen Wallace #17 Connie

Thank you for playing this week everyone and we would be honored if our award winners would pick up their badges and please display them proudly.

Our weekly bonus sponsor this week is Sunshine's Stamps. They are being very generous with their give away this week. Thank You Christina!

Our Monthly Sponsor is: 

Fran from the Frantic Stamper Inc. is the sponsor of our Monthly Bonus Prize Winner. You can visit Fran at her store at the Frantic Stamper Inc, your #1 source for rubberstamping and scrapbooking supplies.

Now onto my card....don't you just love that little angel boy...his name is Michael and he is from the very talented Mo at Mo's digitals....please check out the gorgeous images that Mo creates, believe me you will not be disappointed! The image fit perfectly with the sketch this week and I wanted to keep the background very plain so as not to take the attention away from the image. It is such a gentle, sweet little angel that he deserves to be the center of attention don't you think?
I colored the image with prismacolored pencils and copics then added some sparkles on the clouds with glitter glue and popped the little angel out with pop dots, then added some fur fibers to his wings. The background sections are stitched then a string of minature Christmas snowflakes were added to give the rectangular effect. Some lace and tear drop gems were the finishing touches to my card.

Well, I do hope you will take the time to stop by my lovely DT sisters blogs to check out their gorgeous creations.

Thank you so much for stopping by and also for the lovely comments I receive each week. They are so appreciated and really bring smiles to my days!

Hugs,

Charlotte

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Hot Glitters
 
I would like to wish you all a very Happy and Safe Thanksgiving today and hope you enjoy your time with family and friends.

MIDNIGHT MADNESS (MMSC29)

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful weekend and are getting ready for Thanksgiving if you are in the United States! I would like to thank you so much for taking the time to stop by my blog and for all the well wishes I received.....thankfully I am feeling much better than I was last week, and I so appreciate all your kind words. So I send extra big hugs for all your thoughtful words!

Last week we had you create a Christmas Card and we will each get to honor one of you MM players on our Christmas Blog Hop. So after the close of the challenge one of us will be contacting you to let you know that your card has been chosen to be featured. You will need to participate in the Blog Hop to have your name put in a drawing for a special prize at the end of the Hop. Please let your Design Team Hostess know that you will be able to attend the Blog Hop to be eligible to win the prize.

Our Midnight Madness Gold Star Award this week goes to -#28 Ms. Plum....Congratulations, don't forget to wear your badge proudly!!!

Our Remarkable Awards this week go to -#16 Lorelie Kim#44 Kerri Michaud.....Well done ladies!! Enjoy wearing your badges on your blogs.

Thank you to all our entrants this week and for giving us such wonderful projects to look at!

Thanks again to Michelle's Scrapbooking & More for being our Monthly sponsor. Please check out the main Midnight Madness blog to see the prize they are giving away.

Our Weekly Bonus Sponsor for MMSC29 is...

Your Next Stamp is the place to be if you’re looking for super cute fun and whimsical rubber stamps! Our adorable Fhiona and friends stamp sets will allow your imagination to run wild! Top notch customer service + high quality rubber stamps + a dash of fun = Your Next Stamp! Hope you visit them soon.They just had a new release and we are so lucky, because Karen is giveaway Christmas stamps to our lucky MMSC29 Bonus Winner this week. Woo Hoo, just in time for Christmas :) Thank you Karen.

I hope you can find the time to join in with us this week as we all love looking at your fabulous creations every week. Please don't forget to check out my lovely DT sisters blogs with their beautiful cards.

My card was made with this adorable image from Penny Black. I have had this stamp for about a year and just love it, perhaps coz I am a huge fan of Christmas trees!! There's just something so beautiful about the smell of fresh pine trees! Anyway, I colored this one in prismacolored pencils, made her 3d with pop dots, added some glitter glue for the sparkly bits and stitched the edges of the card. I need to take some additional photos because the center section actually lifts up separately to opening the card. I dry embossed the image area using a swiss dots embossing folder in reverse! Snowflakes, silver ribbon and snowflake ribbon are all mini Christmas decorations from Michael's.

Thanks so much for stopping by, for those of you who leave me such wonderful comments and for all your kind words, they are so appreciated and really make my day!

Hugs,

Charlotte

DUSTIN PIKE -COUNTDOWN TO SUPER SALE!!!!

Happy Thursday Everyone!
I hope you are enjoying your week and looking forward to your weekend!

My week has not been so good, I started out on Sunday with having lower back pain, a trapped nerve where every way you move you get a stabbing feeling shoot up your back. Sitting and sleeping have been difficult but it's finally getting a little better, then two days ago I started to feel like I was getting the flu so I'm a little under the weather! Not exactly what I needed this week as we have the Nascar weekend starting Saturday! Let's hope I'm better before then!

OK enough about that. Today is Dustin Pike day and if you haven't been over to his blog lately you should go check it out....he is counting down the days until his SUPER SALE where he has some sneek peeks available. The pre Thanksgiving sale will be on Wednesday November 25th, so mark your calendars so you don't miss out. Dustin is offering over 240 images!!! Yes that's right I said 240!!!

I've used a few of his available images but there are soooo many more, hopefully when I'm feeling better I will get around to making some more fun projects with them.

Have a great day, and thanks so much for stopping by!

Hugs,

Charlotte

MIDNIGHT MADNESS (MMSC28)

Happy Tuesday folks,

I hope you enjoyed a good week, a great Veterans Day and a fabulous weekend. Are you ready for another sketch from Midnight Madness? Read on.....

And now for the BIG NEWS. From this week's sketch challenge, each of the Design Team members will be choosing a card from this week's entries to be featured on their blog during the Blog Hop. So along with doing the regular sketch challenge, we are asking you to make a "CHRISTMAS CARD" this week. One of our lovely Design Team members will be contacting you after the close of the challenge to let you know that your card has been chosen to be featured on their blog for our Christmas Blog Hop. You will need to participate in the Blog Hop to have your name put in a drawing for a special prize at the end of the Hop. Please let your Design Team Hostess know that you will be able to attend the Blog Hop to be eligible to win the prize.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our Gold Star Award this week goes to -
#36 Sassy whoooo hooo Congratulations!

Our Remarkable Awards this week go to -#19 Carolyn, #26 Teri Sherman, #37 Crafty Pagan Fabulous job ladies...congratulations again!!

Thank you for playing this week everyone and we would be honored if our award winners would pick up their badges on the side bar and please display them proudly.

Thanks again to Michelle's Scrapbooking & More for being our Monthly sponsor.

Our weekly sponsor is Frantic Stamper Inc.

Fran is offering this sticker package worth $20 to this weeks Bonus Winner.

Now for my card...this week I decided to use one of my favorite Christmas stamps..I just love this little deer, bear and bunny stamp and enjoyed making this card. I dry embossed the background using my cuttlebug snowflake folder. Colored the image in prismacolored pencils and added some stickles to the holly and berries and some embossing powder for the snow. The image is popped up on foam to give dimension and the edges are chalked. I added some pretty flowers from Prima and some ribbon and there you have it.

So let's see what you can come up with this week. I can't wait to see all your beautiful creations.

Enjoy your day!

Hugs,

Charlotte

CLP9 - MO'S DIGITAL IMAGE

Happy Friday Folks,

I'm so excited today because we have cooler weather....whooo hooo! OK now I do empathise with those of you in the colder climates, (remember I'm from England)...especially those of you in Alaska, (Cheri my DT sister from Doodle Dragon is in Fairbanks), but here in Miami it's such a welcome change for us. As I was taking my little one to school this morning it was 60 degrees!!! Time to put on something other than a short sleeve t-shirt!! I know I shouldn't get too happy about it coz it won't last but my little boy and I just love the cooler weather. Hubby's not so happy with the cold but I know he will enjoy it for a couple of days!!! I'm like a child when it comes to winter and sooooo miss the snow....anyone who has snow and would like to send some down this way...feel free to do so, I will accept it gladly!

OK, enough about the weather.....although it looks so pretty outside with the wind blowing and clear blue sky and sunshine....oh yes....didn't I just say enough about the weather? Onto my card! I found Mo's digital images through a very talented lady...June, who has created some absolutely fabulous cards using Mo's digi's and I've been admiring them for a while...well I finally went over to scoop out what was available and I found that Mo had some freebies...this gorgeous little kimono girl was one of them. Last weekend I colored her in and yesterday made her into a card for CLP9 over at Chelsea's place. I loved the sketch that Chelsea made and figured I needed to play along as I haven't for a while. I colored the image in prismacolor pencils, glazed over the butterflies on her kimono, the teapot and hibiscus flower, used flocking on the cat, stitched the card inside and out and added the Peace sentiment inside.

card recipe

Image - Mo's digital images - kimono girl

DP - SEI Winter Song from Michael's

Ribbon - Floral Toille from Jo-Ann's

Flocking on cat - Martha Stewart in Swan from Michael's

Embossing - Cuttlebug Birds and Swirls

Flowers - Prima

Fan - Button package from Jo-Ann's

Peace Sentiment stamp - $1.00 bin at Michael's

Gold Doiley & gems - Michael's

Thank you for stopping by today, I hope you enjoyed my card!

Have a fabulous weekend doing something fun!

Hugs,

Charlotte

MIDNIGHT MADNESS (MMSC27)

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend and did something fun! I had my first craft show on Saturday which was an experience in itself...super windy and trying to keep all my cards and projects on the tables was fun! Things were slow for the craft show, probably as there were many other attractions going on this weekend, including an airshow at Homestead Airforce Base...the first show since Hurricane Andrew blew in back in 1992. I don't feel bad though as all the crafters were in the same boat and I really just participated for the experience. I learned a few things, met some nice people and had fun with my friend Lucy who stayed with me the entire day. My hubby and sweet little boy were by my side cheering me on too and my in-laws came to support me during the day...so I had lots of great peeps with me and I was able to enjoy the historical Cauley Square site.

OK now on to the important stuff....can you believe we are in week 27....WOW!! Are you ready for this weeks sketch.....it's a good one! I had fun with it and I know you will too. First I want to Congratulate all our winners this week and to say Thank you to all the players for continuing to join us each week and inspire us with your own works of art.

Our Gold Star Award this week goes to -
Grace N
Our Remarkable Awards this week go to -
9. Super Nan

16. Connie M.

Our sponsor this week is the lovely Michelle Perkett who so generously gave the DT her new images to use. I had a fun time using this gorgeous Holly image and knew immediately what I wanted to do with it. I colored it with prismacolor markers and pencils, glitter pens and stickles then added some winter wonderland embossing powder for the edges of the coat and on the branches for the snow. I've seen so many easel cards lately that I just had to give the design a shot and am so happy with the results, it's a super easy card to make but so effective, don't you think?

If you are interested in getting some of Michelle's digi stamps please check out her etsy site...you won't be disappointed. She has some beautiful images for purchase. For one lucky player Michelle is giving away her 8 1/2 x 11 digi page called, "Christmas Delights" and 6 of her "Winter" greeting cards.

Please check out all my DT sisters blogs with their gorgeous creations, you can click on their names on my side bar and you will get to their blogs directly.

Thanks for stopping by today, I would love to hear what you think of my card.

Hugs, Charlotte

DUSTIN PIKE MISTLETOAD RELEASE!

Happy Mistletoads everyone!

Yes that's right, I said Mistletoads......that's Dustin's fun release for today...aren't they cute? I had a blast putting these two little goodies together. I decided the card needed to be a snowglobe as the poor little frog is stuck inside one!!!! Both images are colored in prismacolored markers as the couple of copics I own are now running out! Boo hoo!! Anyway, I made one Mistletoad into a simple little gift tag and the other into a card using a recycled clear acetate container. I added some artificial snow and some minature gems to give it a little sparkle when you shake it. The corners were embossed using the snowflake embossing folder from cuttlebug, and I added the foam snowflakes and some stickles around the center. So what do you think?

Don't forget to hop on over to Dustin's site to check out all the Mistletoads and if you didn't get the freebie yesterday....what yer waiting for!!!

Have a wonderful day

Hugs,

Charlotte