see you next week...

cranking out carved stamps...

and making cute little enclosure cards with them.


2.5" by 4". available in sets of eight (one design per set) with matching envelopes.

The kids and I have been embossing any and every piece of paper on my desk...Caleb is absolutely mesmerized by the transformation. Logan is obsessed with watching me carve the stamps (he wants to learn to carve "his own cool stamps") and Caleb is all about using the stamps and all my neat new stamp pads I bought while in Houston the weekend before last.

I am completely smitten with the snowflake and the little gift box stamps and if I could just find where I put my white embossing powder I would be over the moon with that snowflake stamp...

noel...

I'm working on a new Christmas card design (among other things) and decided to make postage to match like I did for last year's card.

go look at these quilts...

Now, don't go commenting or anything, I don't want anybody horning in on my chances of winning the Nest/Candy Bar Road quilt. It will be perfect for Molly's big girl bed once I get it repainted!

prepare...

to laugh you ass off. I'm talking guffawing and gasping for air. At least that's what I did...and it's entirely possible that that fact doesn't do any wonders for my carefully crafted persona (snort).

Go now and enjoy.

the snowfolk gang...

I made this bunch of snow people way back in 2002 (pre-Caleb!). I sent them off on consignment and apparently the shop promptly closed up due to the owner's medical troubles. I just recently got all these folks back (for which I am thankful) and now they are all looking for new homes before the holidays get here. I set up a page just for them and you can browse it right here.

Don't forget! Free gift wrapping if you need it and I do a pretty nice job if I do say so myself ;).

I'll be back later with more Christmas business for my website: new jewelry, gift tags, cards and more!

code for the ornie swap banner...

Here it is:

<*a href="http://www.aplcreations.com/2008/11/ready-for-some-christmas-swapping.html"><*img src="http://www.aplcreations.com/uploaded_images/08ornieswapbannerwhtbg-787589.png" alt="" border="0" /><*/a>

all you need to do to get it to work is remove the asterisks (*) from the three spots and place the code where you want it in your blog template and the banner should look just like it does to our left!

some of these are going into the advent calendar...

Whoever thought of this idea is super clever. Seriously. They're slightly pricey at 80¢ a piece after shipping, but I can see the value in the product.

ready for some christmas swapping goodness?

I know it's a wee bit early yet, but I want us all to get a jump on things this year. I'm opening sign-ups for this year's Christmas ornament swap right now! If there is enough interest I'll do a five for five Christmas ATC swap too, just let me know via comments on this post.

To sign-up for the ornament swap, send me an email (amy AT aplcreations DOT com) with your name, mailing address, and blog or flickr link. Sign-ups will close when I have twenty swappers OR Friday, November 14th, whichever occurs first.

This will be a five for five swap. The theme is broad: Christmas/Winter. This means anything Christmassy or wintery is fair game. Check out all the awesomeness from years past right here for some inspiration. The only real RULE I have is that your ornaments MUST be something you would be thrilled to receive from someone else as a gift. If you run out of time or aren't finding the right inspiration it's perfectly fine to back out of the swap. All you have to do is drop me an email saying, "hey, time got away...too much Christmas shopping left to do...kids are sick, etc." Easy as pie, no one will be left in a lurch, and there will be other swaps! I will completely understand...I know, I've been there myself :).

Try to keep your ornaments' weight under two ounces a piece so we can keep the postage down. The idea is keep each box at a pound or less. If your ornies end up a tad on the heavy side, just send along some extra postage or a couple bucks to cover it. Be sure to package your ornaments in a sturdy box that I can re-use to mail your new ornaments back to you. You must put a tracking number on the box (if you print your postage online the tracking is free, otherwise it costs less than a dollar). As far as return postage goes, you can print off a Priority Mail postage paid label at USPS.com and enclose it in your package for me to use or you can send along $5 and I'll print the label for you.

The mail-to-me deadline will be Monday, December 1st. For all my fellow procrastinators, this means your mail-to-me date will be Wednesday, November 26th. If you finish your ornaments early, send them to me early, I don't mind! In fact I'll make bonus treats for early birds...

So, to sum up:

• send me five handmade by you ornaments and I'll send you back five handmade by other people ornaments.
• remember the Golden Rule when making your ornaments. Give as you would want to get.
• pack them in a sturdy, re-useable box.
• email me your tracking number so I can keep track of everyone's whereabouts. We don't want anyone's hard work to go missing if we can help it!
• don't forget to enclose a pre-paid Priority Mail label or $5 for return postage.

any halloween "angels" out there? of course there are!

Thanks so much to all the very sweet ladies who volunteered to send one or more cards out to my two postal snafu victims! Mom, Dawn, Raesha, Sandy and Deborah: you are WONDERFUL!!

* * * * *
As of today's mail delivery I still have two swappers whose ATCs are lost in the mail somewhere. I'm hoping some of you lovely ladies have some extra cards you could send their way. If you do, please send me an email and I'll forward their information to you. Thanks!

of course there are!">