Handmade Christmas Wishes

I received many handmade Christmas wishes from stamping friends, and I wanted to share them with you...

The following 2 cards are legal envelope-sized, but I had to shrink them to get them to post the complete picture. Even small, you can see how wonderful they are!

Tracy

(Tracy was one of the original Meade Girls. She and her family

are now stationed in Alaska. I miss her!)

The sentiment says "Happy Holidays from Alaska".

My "cuz", Michelle D.

Rose

Paula R.

(Go Ravens!)

My mom


Kathi

Jeaneen

Jane T.

Gloria

Cindy

Beverly

Thank you all for the beautiful cards!!!! I love them all!!

Please Vote For Me!

If you haven't voted in the Bombshell Stamps' Design Team's "Playing Favorites" contest there's still time! You can vote through December 31st. If you haven't voted, please vote for me here.

Thanks!

Hurry Before It's Too Late!

Don't forget to enter Bombshell Stamps' "Follow This Blog" Contest! It's super easy to enter, and the winner will have their choice of 2 stamp sets (1 rubber + 1 digital)!!! How cool is that??
Check out the sets that the winner can chose from here!

The contest rules are as follows:
1. Sign up to follow the blog by December 20th, 2010
2. Provide a post on their personal blog promoting the contest (current followers just need to add a post to their blog)

Head on over to the Bombshell Stamps Blog to enter, but hurry! December 20th will be here before you know it!!!

Meade Girls' Cookie and Gift Exchange 2010

This year, 14 of my stamping friends, The Meade Girls, decided to get together for a cookie and gift exchange. Dawn Marie had us all over to her house today for the festivities and I do believe that we all had a great time!!!!

Gloria wasn't able to be there in person (sending healing thoughts, Gloria!!), but she was there in spirit! We were glad that Gloria's daughter and fellow Meade Girl, Theresa, was able to attend in her place and bring her "mom" with her!

Wow, look at all those cookies!! I thought the table would bow in the middle from all the weight!

So many cookies, they wouldn't all fit on the table! It was so fun to see how differently everyone packaged their cookies!

Not only did we do a cookie exchange where we all got 1/2 dozen of each other's cookies, but we also made recipe cards for our cookie recipe to swap. Here is the one that I made:

The pages are 6 x 6", which doesn't leave alot of room to decorate, so mine is pretty simple. I used SU's Pretty in Pink, Buckaroo Blue, and Very Vanilla cardstocks. The cookie-making patterned paper is from The Paper Studio. The stamp set that I chose to use is Sew Pretty by Gina K. I stamped the larger lady with the apron using SU's Bashful Blue ink directly over the recipe. The sentiment "What's Cooking?" is also from that set.

Now, take a look at the fabulous recipe cards that the other Meade Girls made...

Chocolate Pepper Cookies (out of pocket) by Dawnmarie

Chocolate Pepper Cookies (in pocket) by Dawnmarie

Raspberry Jam Drop Cookies by Michelle D.

Fast & Fancy Macaroons by Cindy

Fiesta Fudge Cookies by Rhonda

3-Minute No-Bake Cookies ("Reindeer Poop") by Amanda

Basic Rolled Sugar Cookies by Paula L.

Butterscotch Cookies by Paula R.

Peppermint Meringue Kisses by Jeaneen

Sand Bars by Jane (and Sara!)

Pecan Meltaways by Gloria

Ribbon Cookies by Rose

Snickerdoodles by Kathi

Apple-Raisin Cookies by Jen

I had such a fabulous time and I sure hope that we can do this again!! It was alot of work but it was WELL worth it!!!

WWII Nose Art and a Challenge

During World War II, and again in the Korean, Vietnam, and Gulf Wars, colorful images appeared on the nose sections of American military aircraft. Loved and hated, photographed and censored, the paintings known as nose art have been a controversial tradition.

Not to be confused with official markings or insignia, nose art personalizes a plane for its crew, because it is the crew members who name the plane and create the art, giving the plane an identity of its own. Although some examples of nonregulation art can be found on the military aircraft of other English-speaking countries, the phenomenon is predominantly American, perhaps due to the streak of rebellious individualism attributed to American culture. Nose art is important as an historical and societal indicator over time, an example of folk art or popular expression, and a record of the past.

Our family has visited several museums over the years, and I was thrilled to see some fabulous nose art while we were there. Here are a couple of my favorites...

The following 2 pictures were taken at the Yankee AF Museum in Ypsilanti, MI.


This next photo was taken at the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH. Unfortunately the lighting isn't very good there.


Aren't they fun??

OK, that's your history lesson for today...but I LOVE nose art. For some reason, I'm fascinated by it...maybe it's my upbringing as an Air Force brat, I don't know...but I love it! When I first saw Bombshell Stamps' images, they reminded me of those painted ladies...and I knew I had to have them!

Shannon, who creates these fabulous Bombshell images, assigned me to come up with a Design Team only challenge...and I knew what I wanted to do...my challenge to the girls was "Playing Favorites". I wanted them to create a project using the very first Bombshell set that they got. My first-ever Bombshell Stamp set was Bombshell Angel...and she is a beauty! If you've been reading my blog for a while, you've seen quite a bit of her.

For this challenge, I wanted to create an album to put some of my favorite nose art photos in.

It didn't come out quite like I had planned, but at least it gets the idea across. Here it is:

I drew the shape of an airplane nose onto a folded piece of silver metallic cardstock to make a card. I scored the front about 3/4" in from the left side and inserted silver brads to simulate rivets. I stamped the Bombshell Angel image onto GP110 white cardstock and colored her using Copic markers. I then cut her out and adhered her to the "plane". I stamped the word "Bombshell" above the image. I wanted to add the tally marks that pilots would put on their planes showing the number of bombs that they had dropped, so I used the tiny skull image from A Pirate's Life and stamped it several times using Stazon black ink. I adhered the "plane" to a piece of chip board that has been covered using a star pattern DSP. Inside of the plane card I attached a brief blurb about Wright Patterson AFB and the Yankee AF Museum. The album contains 8 pages of vanilla cardstock to put my favorite photos on. The book was bound using my brand new Cinch binding machine with a spiral coil...and I DO love my new Cinch!!! It's SO easy to use!

Please go to the Bombshell forum here and vote...and if you vote for me...thank you!! :) The design team member with the most votes will win a fabulous prize from Bombshell Stamps!

Thanks for stopping by!