Chilly Days

The past few days have been a bit chilly.  It is a welcome change from the upper 90's we had last week.  It is also a reminder that Winter is coming.  I don't like to be cold so, as much as I love Fall, I have this dread of the long cold days of January and February.  I know lots of people love the cold weather but my fingers, nose and toes are always cold and make me so uncomfortable that I dread it.  Many a Winter day I am so thankful for my wood stove and my 3 brothers who cut wood for me all year.  I think I need to take some pictures of my woodpiles (all 3 of them) and scrapbook about my brothers!
Today, since I'm thinking about Winter and wood stoves, I'm going to post some cards I got some swap cards featuring the new set called Christmas Lodge.  It is on page 29 of the Holiday Mini Catalog.  If you don't already have this mini catalog, let me know and I'll get one sent out to you.  It is full of wonderful stamps, paper and other goodies to create great projects for Fall and Winter holidays.
The lodge stamp from this set is so beautiful!  It has so many possibilities for snow techniques on the roof.  All 4 of the cards I'm posting today use either Dazzling Diamonds or the new Dazzling Details which is basically Dazzling Diamonds added to clear glue like Crystal Effects in a small squeeze bottle that is easy to squeeze onto a project.  Much less messy than the glitter and glue!  It is a great new project that I'm sure I'll be using a lot.  What's not to love, bling and easy in the same bottle!

Although the Christmas Lodge set comes with 2 great sentiments, this first card made by Karen Monger goes with a more bold approach using a sentiment from the Merry and Type set.  This set makes it look a bit more manly.  Did you notice the wood grain DSP?  It comes from a paper pack called Frostwood Lodge, also in the Holiday Mini Catalog.  There are several wood grain papers in this set, including white birch and lots of plaid papers too.  It goes perfectly with the Christmas Lodge stamp set!  The stamp set also has a large fir tree, a small branch and a cute branch with 2 birds on it, a set of 6 stamps in all.

The next 3 card use the sentiment from the Christmas Lodge set that says "Sending Wishes of Happy Holidays to You and Yours".  I love the swirls and branches on this sentiment.  First is an easel card, isn't it beautiful!  I wish I could remember who made it, she did a great job but her name isn't on it.  I love the addition of embossing, Basic Pearls, Chantilly Lace and our new Lace Ribbon Border Punch.  The other sentiment on this card comes from the Boughs and Branches stamp set.

She also stamped the "back" so either way you fold the card, it looks nice.  I hadn't seen one that could fold either way so I though this was a great idea.  I love the easel fold cards!  Here are 2 views of the card folded each of  the 2 ways to show the difference.

This is a simple yet beautiful card made by Patti Keitzman who is in the same Stampin' Up team that I am on.  I love the simplicity of this card, the 2 colors used and the beautiful Velvet Stitched Ribbon, another new offering from the Holiday Mini Catalog.

Next is another card from our Stampin' Sisters team swap.  Kathy Brown made this beauty using Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler and Very Vanilla cardstock and a bit of knotted Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding.  Of course, there is glitter on the rooftop!  I'm sad that it doesn't show well in the pictures.

The last card is a simple yet beautiful card made by Patti Keitzman who is in the same Stampin' Up team that I am on. I love the simplicity of this card, the 2 colors used and the beautiful Velvet Stitched Ribbon, another new offering from the Holiday Mini Catalog.

I had to throw a blanket on my bed in the wee hours, it got down in the mid 50's last night.  With a high not quite reaching 70 I will have to start out my day with a light jacket or sweater but it promises to be a great day.  I'm still snuggled under the blanket, I guess I should get some breakfast and get going on the day.  I went to a "toe party" last night at a friend's house and stayed past 1AM so I was glad I could sleep in this morning.  Then I woke up at 6:00 and couldn't go back to sleep!  I'll definitely need a nap today.  At least I have pretty toes.  It's too cold to wear sandals but I know how cute they are!