Happy New Year

Here's wishing that 2010 will be happy, healthy and prosperous for you and your loved ones.

Nothing like a nice snowstorm to get you in the spirit of the season!

Here's my front door with the tasteful decorating touch of SNOW; as in, a whole bunch of it last weekend courtesy of the big storm that swept the East Coast of the US. It's grand when Mother Nature helps you decorate!

More sweetness

Just a little sweetness for you today.

Jana here: I have been taking photos for my December album.

I haven't posted many, but there are a few on my blog.

How do our OG ladies spend the holidays? Part 1 of who knows how many?

So, we've asked you to share your holiday photos and stories and you always come through for us, so let's see what we have!



Kristen is not only ready for Christmas, but good grief she is already tearing into the new year with lots of lovely cards!!! Check out her blog! I don't know how she does it with all she has on her plate but she does beautifully.






Her tree is so pretty and happy and I want to eat all of these cookies, right now, all I need is a huge glass of milk and a little alone time (ha ha). (you think I'm kidding? Oh no!)

Our friend Fia from the Netherlands has also been a busy lady and isn't her tree beautiful? Oh my gosh, it looks so pretty and velvety, I love it and she has a proud helper here in her photo - her son Jaimie who appears to be eating his veggies because he is growing like all get out! Such a cutie!

Take a look at this gentle and elegant tableaux for her home, I love the natural elements and especially the peaceful dove nestled in the display.

Our friend Marni has been very crafty also and has made this gorgeous golden wreath. Silly Marni, she's asking where to hang it? Why, my home, of course! (LOL)

Casii not only has an idea that is so affordable and cute, you have to try it! I want to! Also, she has the sweetest, most original Christmas music that plays on her blog. You'll just smile and smile.

So keep those photos and links coming, we love to see them and share them to let us all enjoy the eye candy and creativity!

A taste of Christmas goodness - vintage style

Okay, Rosemary here, and if you follow my blog or see some of my projects here then you know I love the vintage stuff. If it is musty, worn, and sentimental - I'm so there, dude!

This is no exception and is my latest find: a little children's Christmas activity book. I suppose it was meant to amuse a little one during the dreadfully long anticipation toward Christmas (it seems like FOREVER to a child). It has sweet illustrations, lots of nice writing, and even some music to drive mom and dad crazy with as you practice it oh, 500 times or more!

So, please enjoy the little photos I took of some of the pages. I just thought it was so sweet to see. It is going to join my other vintage items - old Christmas bulbs in a box, tinsel, paper, bottlebrush trees. (swoon)

Challenge # 35 - Holiday Bliss

We at Opus Gluei want to wish you and yours a most wonderful winter Holiday Season.



We are offering this challenge:

Enjoy the season and have fun with your family.

Extra credit will be given for posts with pictures of family fun. You don't have to put your family in the pictures. We want to see what your family does for fun during the Holidays.







This challenge will last ALL MONTH LONG.







Be sure to come back and visit us each week though. We are going to have some give aways and treats.





Jana here: We celebrate Christmas and a few birthdays between now and the first part of January. I love the excitement of the girls getting prepared for their holiday activities and their birthdays. Yup! ALL of them have birthdays in the coming weeks.

(I had planned to post a picture of our activity this weekend. It is late and I am tired. So, unfortunately, you are going to have to wait. I know, it isn't fair. You wait all week for more, and I keep you waiting. I promise I will put myself in time out. Straight to my room right after this posts. Check back later in the week for pictures.)

I am a bad, bad pooh-bah.

Have a great couple of days. See you back here soon.

THE BLOG CANDY DRAWING WILL BE DONE TODAY AND WINNER POSTED TOMORROW!!!!!

We have a Blog Candy Winner!!!!!!

The winner of our blog candy giveaway is Ms. Electra! Your treats will be on their way!

But we're also sending a little treat out to the other entrants as well to say thank you for playing with us here at the Opus Gluei!

So, we're going to need mailing addresses for Dayna, Katie, and Jessica G - please send your info to freeadvice66@gmail.com

A recap of our Sweetie Pies entries will be posted tomorrow (Wednesday) so please stop by and take a look at the sweetness!

Challenge #34 - Sweetie Pie

Hey, it's almost time to start making pies and cookies and cakes and candies -

OH MY!!!! A delicious dilemma!

This week's theme is going to be Sweetie Pie. Who doesn't love something (or someone sweet)? Well, let this be your inspiration and let's see what you come up with!

This is Rosemary, here to show you a sweet little card that I made - some pop dots, punches and a bit of glitter makes this look good enough to eat! Now I need to go and find some real chocolate before I eat this card!

Jana here: I love this card. Sweet indeed. Looks good enough to eat.

I went WAY overboard and made some advent calendars to send to my mom, my sister and a friend and her daughters. I stuffed the drawers of these little beauties with candies and little treats. I had to ignore my family for a good portion of this weekend to get them done so I can mail them tomorrow morning. I want them to get to their destinations by December 1st.

Here they are all lined up. (I think you can click on the picture to enlarge it a bit.)

This is the top of the one going to my mother. Melissa decorated it with lots of trees. My mother has decorated trees all over her house. Even in the bathrooms. It really made an impression on my youngest.

This one is going to my sister. She has a tree dedicated to Hello Kitty every year.

I think Melissa nailed it. She even put one in a stocking.



I made these little goodie bags to put in the drawers so I could send some of these adorable Gingerbread Cookies.
Gotta love Pepperidge Farms. Next to them are Mike and Ikes and Mint M&M's. Love all of these Sweets.



This one is going to my friend and her daughters. I opened a few of the drawers so you could have a peek.

The calendars are match boxes glued together. The feet are brass brads (office supplies) and pony/plastic beads from my daughters bead stash. I had my daughters decorate them after I assembled them. I used about an inch of ribbon (folded in half) and a brad for the drawer pulls. I stamped the numbers and punched them out with a little circle punch. You can't tell from these pictures, but I sprayed them with a glitter mist that makes them just gorgeous.

I really hope they LOVE them. Cause I sure do.

They turned out so cute that I have decided to make 3 more. One for each of my girls.

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***We interrupt this theme with an important message***

We also have a little sweet treat for you as well, a blog candy giveaway! The perfect little sweet treat as it doesn't add a pound or cause tooth decay. All of the items below are yours if you win and will also come in a cute, reusable tote! Can this get any better? Stuff to use and an environmentally responsible tote to put it all in?

All YOU have to do is be a follower of our blog and participate in this challenge. Entries will be placed in a hermetically sealed mayonnaise jar (that's been on the porch of Funk and Wagnalls) and a winner will be randomly drawn next Sunday. The winner will be posted at the next challenge and we'll let you know if we need an address for your prize! See, isn't that easy?

***We now return you to your previously scheduled theme***

I'm not gifted like Jana so I don't dare try to use Mr. Linky. I'm going to kick it old school and ask you to please link your project in the comments to this posting. A recap of last week's participants will be posted on Wednesday!

Happy Crafting and GOOD LUCK in the drawing!

Let's see what you artists cooked up last week....

Scroll down for Week #33 Challenge - Naturally Inspired.

This weeks challenge is to let Nature guide you this time. Details are in the post below.

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Last week we challenged you to Cook something up for us.

Here's what you did: (In no particular order, cause that's how I roll these days.....)

Terry made this adorable card using the week before's challenge image of Tom the Turkey.

I love this Turkey. He looks great here trying to convince us to go vegetarian.

Electra paid tribute to her daughter cooking for her in her own place.

A wonderful occasion and a great layout too.

Kristen made this little granny out of circles and freehand cuts. Too creative!!!

And the recipe looks delish too. I am going to try this one this year.

Jess managed to serve up a spot of tea for us.
She might or might not be a good cook, but she makes a wonderful card.

Divya Rao made these fabulous cards. I think they are delightful.

Check out her blog for close up shots of each card.

Thanks to everyone who cooked with us last week.

It's amazing to me each week to see the talent that we get here.

Keep it coming.

Challenge # 33 - Naturally Inspired

Let nature inspire you this week. No matter where you are, or what the weather, show us what YOU are seeing this week. I know it is getting warmer in the Southern Hemisphere and snowing some parts of the Northern Hemisphere.

Take a peek outside and show us what is going on.

Or take a peek inside, and show us what's up.

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Jana here: I live in the southeastern part of Virginia in the United States. We are just getting out of a 3 day storm. We were only supposed to get some heavy rains. What ended up happening is that we got A LOT of rain and A LOT of wind. The ground was soaked, trees toppled over, around 200,000 homes lost electricity, schools and businesses closed for 2 of the 3 days, MANY streets were flooded. We were blessed in that the only casualty was a reduced tolerance for each other. Wednesday was a National Holiday, Veterans Day. Followed by Thursday and Friday being cooped up in the house with each other. I love my family, but I like them much better when I can miss them for a bit everyday. (KWIM)

So, here is what I did for this weeks Nature challenge...

I made this card with greys, blues and a bit of green thrown in. Like the skies were for the 3 days of the storm. And since the United States is celebrating Thanksgiving this month, I threw in some appreciation in the sentiment. I made four of these. I plan on giving out some sets of greeting cards as Christmas gifts this year and have now officially started with this card.

More of the greys and blues here. With a bit of "sunshiney" brightness in the butterfly. Which also symbolizes the renewal of the earth with all the rain. We did a lot of reading, thus the printed patterned paper. I pulled out a scrapbook kit that I have from Cocoa Daisy and went to town with it. I made two of these. (don't know why I didn't make four. you know, one for each of the sets I am making for Christmas. just happened I guess????)

And this last one was made with bright cheery colors. I love this little monster and decided it was time to ink him up. I stamped him on the printed paper because we were all reading like monsters this past few days. hehehe You can't really tell, but the hearts are punched out of velvet ribbon, cuz I figured that a monster would have a fuzzy heart. This little guy is paper pieced. I stamped him once on the printed patterned paper, once on the blue background square and once on white cardstock. Then cut out the horns, his body and his hands. I used my Copic markers for the first time on this card. (before I cut) Kind of chicken of me, since the area to color is so very tiny. But I have to say that I am HOOKED on these markers. Even the little bit I did was SO smotth and easy. His horns are shaded. I have never done shaded before. I am going to play more tomorrow, if I can get away with it. I only made this one. I don't think that the recipients of the greeting cards would really use this one. I could be wrong. But, we will never find out.

(Supplies used are so darned varied that I hesitate to mention any of them. If you want to know a specific item, just leave a comment and I will try to figure it out. I am not really good at keeping track of what I use. I have no desire to be published or chosen for a design team, so it isn't a priority for me. Maybe in the future, but not today.)

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NOW get out there and get inspired naturally.
(not necessarily "naturally", it's up to you though)

Challenge #32 - Hey Hey Good Looking - What Ya Got Cooking?

Our theme this week plays upon the idea of cooking; here in the U.S. we're getting closer and closer to Thanksgiving, in which we share our thanks for the blessings we have received and spend time with those near and dear to us with delicious food - often, this has deep significance to us as family favorites or new traditions. Then there is Hanukkah and Christmas, holidays that are often celebrated with traditional foods reminiscent of our religious and cultural heritages. But the common theme is that we often express ourselves in our foods.


So, this week you have a lot of leeway in considering how to fulfill this theme and your only limitations are those you impose on yourself. Do you use food motifs on your cards? Do you enjoy cooking for family and what do you like to make? Just a few ideas to throw out there!




Rosemary here:

I have two options to share with you on my approach to this theme:

The first is a simple card. The checked paper makes me think of a tablecloth and the circles for the center are reminiscent of a diner plate. So, here's one sassy take.


The other take I have is this link to my personal blog where I talk about food and Thanksgiving. I am hosting Thanksgiving for the first time in years (although I've cooked at all the interim ones) and I'm excited but a bit behind the eight ball when it comes to being prepared! Oh well, it will all work out!


Jana here:

I took a bit of a different approach. I journaled about cooking in an album I am creating which is all about ME. I took an online class where we were to document ourselves using the alphabet. Sounds really silly. And to some it might be. But to me it was difficult to seperate my likes/desires/habits from those of my family. It seems as though most of my time is spent taking care of others and catering to those others' needs/wants. I am still working on finishing this project. My goal is before the end of the year. Sort of like a Christmas gift to myself. (Click on the photo to see what I wrote.)

So, let's see what YOU cook up!

Here's who accepted the Tom the Turkey challenge last week!

Divya Rao submitted this really great card for the challenge - she made Tom look so darn cute! I love a tall card and the image lends itself so well to different formats! This is a fun card!

We also received another absolutely adorable card from Jess - check out the googley eyes on Tom and the beautiful coloring on his lovely feathers! Also notice how she used Tom's hat! She has a great eye for composition on her cards doesn't she?

Our buddy Electra used Tom to remind us to have an attitude of gratitude for our blessings. He looks very resplendent in his feathers and T is for Thankful!

and last, but certainly not least, a card from our benefactress of this adorable image - Miss Kristen and her take on Tom in card form - fun, fresh, and just a little sassy. That's our Kristen as well!

So, take a break and take on our challenge - we'd love to see what you make of it!

Challenge Below

Challenge is posted below review of last weeks entries.

Scroll down for details on this sweet little guy.

Who Played With Us and Our Apple Theme?

We had a great variety of submittals for this challenge. That's the fun of making these open to your interpretation, you each have a great way of making it entirely your own - which just makes us so happy you like trying them out!

Our dear friend Fran made an absolutely adorable card with her Cricut; happy, bright and so darn cute! That Cricut is very versatile and she made excellent use of her negative space from the cutout - we like that too!

Miss Electra also made us a project using our crispy delicious theme; she made this layout that has lots of color and textural appeal - makes me want to take a walk around an orchard and soak in a little more autumn!

One of our new friends, Alma7, made the cutest little shaker box with apple cutouts inside. She was also nice enough to let us know that apples are a symbol of the Jewish new year and we're really glad the theme had a broad appeal.

and another of our new friends to the Opus Gluei blog, Katie, made this gorgeous little beauty sitting on her apple and being all cute - isn't that edging great? Also, it's a gift bag - that's a great idea for using card sketches in a different way!







Thanks to each of you for participating, we love seeing your creativity and hope you enjoy the variety of themes! We try to be a little different but it only works because of each of you taking time to play along! THANKS SO MUCH!

Challenge #31 - Tom the Turkey

Kristen, one of our loyal Green Horns, has generously offered up one of her digi stamps, Tom the Turkey as a freebie on her blog and is letting us use it for our challenge this week.

Thank you so much Kristen.

FIND TOM HERE.

This little guy is really very versatile.

You can get the image on her blog. You should also check out all of the wonderful digi images in her shop, KAH-wink-E-dink. Go visit her blog and her shop. She is very talented. And has a wonderful sense of humor.

Let's see what you can do with this sweet little guy.

Jana here: The United States is celebrating Thanksgiving this month. One of the symbols of this holiday is the turkey. We know that not everyone is celebrating this holiday this month, but we still want you to play with us. I made Place Cards for our Thanksgiving dinner table. We are hosting dinner here. We don't dress up. We wear jeans and t's or sweaters depending on the temperature.

As you can see, I flipped the image and printed out and colored them.

I thought it would add a little interest.

It's one of the advantages of working with digital stamps.

I made them simple but I think they look good anyway.

(Look good? I LOVE THEM, they look so darn cute says Rosemary stopping in to say hey)

Hi everyone! It's Rosemary and my take on cute ol' Tom here is to print him out on a neutral colored cardstock, color him in (using ye olde Crayola crayons - which I think gives him a cute playful look), and then fussy cut and adhere to a tag on a bag of autumn candy mix. A little tag printed out and glued on and then some ribbon and voila - a cute little treat bag!

Let's see what you can do with this sweet little guy.

Our recap of last week's submittals for the theme "Apples" will be on Wednesday.

Challenge #30 - You are the Apple of My Eye

Fall makes me think of crisp leaves and even crisper cool weather along with pumpkins and hay bales and.....apples! Bushels of apples right off the tree that smell heavenly and beg to be put into pies, tarts, salads, and eaten out of hand. YUM and so good for you! Their simplicity and beautiful form is also probably why you see decorating shows often use bowls of apples to give a fresh, clean, natural element to a room's decor.

Rosemary here - My submittal is a card of fall motifs with a happy little sentiment. Unfortunately, some of my adhesive (how Opus Gluei of me) is showing - obviously, I'm not very modest to have my glue hanging out there for everyone to see - but I have to go back to sickbay now.

Jana here: I love this card. The colors are perfect for fall. So warm and cozy feeling.

So.....the challenge this week is for you to incorporate an apple or apples into your effort - remember, that can be anything from papercrafting to a blog entry to well...whatever you want!

*************HOCUS POCUS MAGIC FOCUS**************

Let's see who played with Magic and created some Hocus Pocus with us last week for our theme!

Electra made a beautiful fairy with all the elements; swirls and pearls and bling (OH MY)!!!! Love the feminine touches!

and then Electra comes back with another entry! It is spooky but I have to admit I really like the colors - and it is reminiscent of The Shining hotel.

Kristen, that crafty gal, loves Halloween and decorates with a lot of personal flair and unique touches sure to "scare" up some fun - for her Opus Gluei submittal she shows us some realistic looking bones to go into her Halloween pantry!

A Halloween theme needs a black cat doesn't it? Well, we have Chat Noir and she's the kind of black cat you want crossing your path because she has great ideas. For this challenge, she created a very spooky card with perfect touches; she got to use black (her fave), the cobweb (I have to find that embossing folder), the image, and the embossed "Escape." Very cool indeed!

Irit Shalom doesn't celebrate Halloween in Israel but you wouldn't know it by her submittal. She created a really cool card that has all sorts of cool touches - I love the cauldron and I think painting the haunted house in crackle paint is a great idea - as is the button full moon!

Jessica made a great card; so much to love!!! I love the expression of embarrassment on the dog's face! Yep, what they do for love of their humans. The colors just pop and the design is fantastic - I am never so clever with my cards but I'm getting inspired! I'm going to have to consider Copic markers, those of you who use them make such cool projects! Fran came back for this challenge and brings a sweet card with two very cute and mischievous kitties playing about the pumpkins. The embossed background is perfect and makes the image pop! Welcome back, Fran!

Here are first time Opus Gluei submittals - Welcome - we sure hope you come back for more challenges with us!

Another cool blog and an even cooler name - Black Dragon (spooky eh) - is submitting here for the first time and she's made a scary ATC - somehow, I think the lady is going to escape the ghoul (I'm an optimist that way) - in fact, I think she's calling her flock of bats to carry her away! (okay, I'm the one hiding under the covers at scary movies on tv, I admit it)

Now, you have to love a blog named "Krazy's Place," that's just a given. Then you get to see all the great projects she does. For her first submittal to an Opus Gluei theme, she's created a Halloween card that just says FUN! I love the little touches - she used the Martha Stewart border punch I used a little while ago, and the Cuttlebug embossing folder of the cobweb that Chat Noir used - and isn't it cool how we each make them our own in our projects? Love those brads too!

And another new first time submittal to Opus Gluei from Alma7 who made a card of a sweet trick or treater who is too cute to spook!

Li-Bee-Ti submitted a cute card - and I love a good pun! Hope we been witchen you for future themes too!