Debi's Crazy Life;

Just a really quick card this morning before I head out to get some of my Christmas shopping done. It is missing something but my caffeine hasn't kicked in yet so please forgive me. What I used: a cardinal christmas basic black, real red, kraft card stock black stazon, real red classic stamp pads various re-inkers for watercoloring real red narrow grosgrain ribbon

Once a year or so I find myself unable to resist getting up on a soap box. Today is that day, so if you are only looking for a stamping masterpiece from me today you will have to wait and see if I have time to stamp later today. Today is National Adoption Day. All across this country thousands of families will finalize the adoptions of their children and this is a wonderful thing. We too had hoped to finalize Ellie's adoption today but were not able to. But as wonderful as this is there are still 130,000 children in this country, freed for adoption but with no permanent families. Let me repeat that number, One Hundred Thirty Thousand children in foster homes, group homes and institutions that want permanent homes with loving families and don't have them. That number should take your breath away. Merely typing it brings tears to my eyes. I'm a foster/adoptive parent and I know some of these children. I have adopted two of them and are in the process of adopting a

It's time for another Elzybelles challenge, this week, paper piecing. To check out all the challenge details click here , to see what all the design team has done, click here . I have to say that I love Elizabeth's images for paper piecing. They are the most suited in my entire stamp collection. Basically when paper piecing you stamp the image multiply times on various different papers and cut out each of the tiny pieces then layer them back into a whole image. If you don't like cutting probably not a technique you are going to love but the result is very cool. It is also a fabulous way to use up some of those teeny tiny scraps of designer paper or card stock that you just can't bring yourself to throw away. What I used: Elzybell cat in window chocolate chip, soft sky, whisper white, wild asparagus designer paper various scraps including vellum basic black, close to cocoa classic ink pads ribbon, red brads sponge diamond cuttlebug embossing folder

I know I am a little rusty from not stamping in a while so this didn't come out exactly as I envisioned it but I will share it with you anyway. The owls are colored with Watercolor Wonder crayons and an aquapainter. What I used: Owl Together Now chocolate chip, kiwi kiss, whisper white card stock Urban Garden designer paper basic black, close cocoa classic ink watercolor wonder crayons and aquapainter kiwi kiss satin ribbon

Hop on over to the Elzybell blog and check out the winning cards in our holiday card contest!

I know, I know, I haven't posted in nearly two weeks. My life is chaos. We have filed our adoption petition with the courts for Ellie's adoption but do not yet have a court date. My Christmas cards are not finished yet and my 15 year old son is driving me crazy. None of these are good for getting my stamping mojo going. But todays color challenge over on SplitCoastStampers was just to good to not try. What do you think? The snow is highlighted with a white gel pen and a glitter pen. The cuttlebugged background has whisper white ink sponged over the snowflakes to make them stand out. The main image is watercolored with certainly celery, pacific point and basic gray classic ink. What I used: stamp by Elzybell basic gray, whisper white, certainly celery, pacific point card stock certainly celery designer prints paper basic black, basic gray, certainly celery, pacific point classic ink whisper white craft ink snowflake cuttlebug embossing folder white gel pen, glitter pen p