And start the year off right with plenty of your favorite DZ Doodles Digital Stamp images at great prices from our Holiday Savings Specials … almost the entire store is on sale! The last chance to purchase is Jan 10th (midnight CST). No coupon code required – discounts of 25% to 50% have already been applied to the price!

Our New Year’s Eve evening forcast calls for a frigged below zero temperatures, and since I was a bit under-the-weather during the Christmas week, I’ve decided to ring in the new year warm and toasty on the couch in front of the TV watching all the festivities shown around the world. Of course I’ll be sipping my glass of Auslese Riesling wine while nibbling on my favorite Holiday Brie en Croute! It’s a delicious pastry wrapped soft cheese called, Brie, topped with cranberries, apricots and almonds! You can easily find this recipe at Campbell’s Kitchen! In the “SEARCH FOR” box, just type in the word Brie. There are several recipes for Brie, but I’ve made this one several times and know it’s absolutely delicious!                                               

If you’ve been wishing to develop your creativity and techniques, now is the time to make these wishes into tangible goals by asking yourself what are you going to do differently in terms of your paper crafting in the New Year? What are your goals and aspirations … what are you determined to achieve? What do you wish you’d done in the past 12 months?

Hope your New Year festivities are joyful and thank you for your business!

DZ Doodler, Diane

Friday freebie  “New Year’s Wishes” is no longer available as a freebie but is listed in the WINTERTIME Category for purchase!

Hope your Christmas festivities were happy one’s and that Santa brought you all the goodies you wanted (or could afford) … remember, there’s always next year to ask for it again, but, by then you’ll probably be wanting something else!

Have a happy papercraft day! Diane :0)

What do I wish for you this Christmas?

Not something you’ll find in a store,

But gifts that will live in your heart

When the holly’s gone from your door.

I wish you the gift of true friendship,

As warm as holiday cheer,

The kind that will bring your heart joy

Each day of the coming year.

I wish you the gift of good health,

Good fortune in all that you do.

I wish you a prayertime each day,

Your spirit to ever renew.

What do I wish for you this Christmas?

More precious than this set apart -

I wish you the gifts of the Christ Child,

Living each day in your heart.

Kay Hoffman                                                   

No treasure greater than a healthy body; no happiness, than a joyful heart! Sirach 30:16

Diane wanted me to show you the cards I made with Comical Reindeer 1 and Comical Reindeer 2 that she colored with her prisma pencils. I am lucky to be friends with Diane and stop by to visit. When I do, she sends images home with me to create cards. Boy, do I love her images. Her coloring is awesome! I have told her to make a video show how she colors with her pencils. I know I would love a tutorial. I think I almost have her to agree to one, so watch out for one in 2010.

Happy Holidays!

Kim

Welcome to the last DZ Doodles Digi Freebie of the year! Can’t believe Christmas is only a few days away – early on I made a huge dent in my shopping list … gift cards! Cards from “dinner’s on me” to “find somethin’ you’ll like” at their favorite department stores. But I always try to buy some small sentimental gift to throw in that pulls at their heartstrings along with a handcrafted card.

In addition to tangible gifts, I’ve packaging up some homemade holiday treats that I enjoy baking, for not only myself, but for my list of food-lover’s who indulge, binge, pig-out and otherwise consume to excess throughout Christmastime into the New Year’s festivities!

This is a delicious new recipe I’ve added to my holiday baking … Pumpkin Pecan Loaf

Prep Time: 15-minutes / Cook Time: 1-hour / Yield: 12-servings.

Flour No-Stick Spray (or shortening & flour for loaf pan), 1/2-cup light Oilve Oil, 1/2-cup sugar (for my diabetic friends I substitute 10-pkgs of sugar substitute), 2-large eggs, 1-cup solid pack canned pumpkin, 1/3-cup milk, 1-1/2-cups All Purpose Flour, 1-tsp. baking soda, 1/2-tsp. salt, 1-tsp. ground cinnamon, 1-tsp. ground ginger, 1/2-cup finely chopped pecans. TOPPING: 1/2-cup chopped pecans, 1/4-cup firmly packed brown sugar, 2-tbsp. light Olive Oil. 

1.) HEAT oven to 350-degrees. Coat 9-by-5-inch loaf pan lightly with flour no-stick cooking spray. 2.) STIR olive oil and sugar together with spoon. Stir in eggs until blended. Add pumpkin and milk. In another bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger. Add to pumpkin mixture, stirring until well combined. Stir in 1/2-cup pecans. 3.)POUR batter into prepared pan. Combine 1/2-cup pecans, brown sugar and olive oil until mixed and crmbly. Sprinkle over batter. 4.) BAKE 55 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10-minutes. Remove from pan.

DTC Kim, visited the other day and I sent her home with some of my color penciled images I had made up but never found the time to use on projects. I told her to work her magic by making something up with them … you have to visit her at Clearly Inspired to see what she’s done with the Comical Reindeer set listed in the Christmastime Category - just too cute! 

Due to computer technical difficulties I’ve experienced over these past few days, your Friday Freebie was delayed … so I’m up and running again! Just click on the image, Rose Bear, to enlarge and copy/paste into your DZ Doodles folder! I left the eye’s and nose “opened” so that you can use your own colors in those areas … like blue eye’s and pink nose!

Hope you’ve enjoyed the Freebie Friday images and will give them a try on many of your new year projects, and show us your results … we’d love to see them!

Have a happy papercrafting day! Diane                 

You know what Friday’s mean around here during the month of December, don’t you?! It means I’ve got another image to give you, for FREE! Available for download until Friday, Dec. 18th when it will be replaced with our final freebie image of the year. I didn’t “go holiday” with this Fridays image because I’m gearing up for the new year design ideas … violets and tulips are on my mind along with Valentine’s Day!

Just click on the image to enlarge so that you can copy/paste it into your file folder collection of DZ Doodles Digital images. And don’t forget to “share” your projects with us … we’d really love to see what you make!

Have a happy papercraft weekend! Diane

P.S. Didn’t DTC, Kim, do a fab-job on her How-To video?! Hopefully we can get her to add even more video’s this coming year! Give her some video suggestions!

Christmas is just around the corner and if you are like me, hardly ready! I’m still out there doing last minute shopping and papercrafting for my friends and family! This month’s image release, Mouse #1, will pretty much close-out Freebie Fridays “holiday images” … and so, listed to your right are some last minute coordinating images for purchase that are ONLY AVAILABLE from today until Sunday, Dec. 6th at 6:00 p.m.! So click on your Freebie Friday image … have some fun and show us your stuff!

   I’ve always been a big fan of The Carol DuVall Show (DIY Network) when it aired on TV – it was a time when you had to “make do” with what was available in the arts & crafts aisle (which wasn’t much) or around the house. Pop dots?! There was no such thing available, but Carol showed how (I believe it was her) to make “dots” with a paper punch using different thickness of cardboard usually found around the house to add dimension to projects! Check-out her Coffee Filter Yo-Yo Flowers and her many other fun craft video’s! I have to say, “it’s news to me” and who’da thunk “flower” from coffee filters?!! So, if you think you can’t afford to incorporate flowers into your papercrafting you may want to consider this idea.

Many of you have emailed me requesting information on the “How-To’s” in using some of the suggested card studio program’s I’ve been listing, to use your digi stamps with … hope I’ve been of some hlep?!  I just came across  Photo Shop Elements  create a card tutorial and thought I’d pass it on as well.

Have a happy papercrafting day! Diane