OK, OK, it's a cheap tie-in!
I can vouch that prayers are answered, and God does say YES! Last night, my husband mentioned that it was supposed to snow. Now, I had been saying for about a week that it really needed to snow on Inauguration Day--not in Washington, DC, but here in North Carolina. A lot of staff at our school and in our district were going to be out, and I was envisioning how crazy it would be--when things are out of the norm, kids get overexcited (or maybe the "over" part is just what an adult would say!). When I woke up at 4:30 and peeked out, it didn't seem like much snow, and the district website didn't say school was cancelled. Oh, the sadness! However, at 6 it was announced, and I was happy. The kids are happy, and the puppy got to experience her first snow.
One last side note--I wish all the best for President Obama. May God watch over him and help him with a very difficult job.
OK, on to Open House stuff! We were a small but happy bunch--even staying an extra hour, but nobody complained! I was so glad to finally meet people with whom I'd only emailed. My only concern--I was the only one to eat! Having skipped lunch, I was starved! DH and the kids enjoyed the spoils of the day, though!

We had 2 projects. This was the first one. OK, I admit it is pretty simple. I will reveal the truth now--I didn't make either sample until a half-hour before the Open House started. I had the ideas in my mind, but still needed to make the projects and cut the materials for everybody in preparation. I had planned on using ribbon, but I was out of time!
Anyway, this is the beautiful Pink Pirouette cardstock, with textured Riding Hood Red cardstock strip over it. I punched the strip with the new Heart to Heart punch. The sentiment (in Real Red) comes from the Short & Sweet set.

Ashley made use of the extra materials that were out and made this card. She ran the Very Vanilla 1/4" grosgrain ribbon through a Classic ink spot (Gable Green?). She punched Pink Pirouette cardstock with the Wide Oval punch, and stamped a sentiment (again, from Short & Sweet). The "Best Wishes" at the top comes from the Sincere Salutations set. Ashley was sharing that she didn't have many sentiment sets (she got back to stamping when she needed to make a card and didn't have a "Get Well" message)--both of these are great ones--Short & Sweet includes small outline images. Sincere Salutations is my workhorse set that I always rely on--and yes, it has a get well message!

Here's the second project. (Please ignore the multiple wrinkles in the tablecloth. The clothes dryer's wrinkle release didn't work its miracle--and did I express that I was strapped for time?)
This bag topper was something I've wanted to make for awhile. It uses the Top Note die. The Top Note die was created as a bag topper--folded in half this way, it fits the small flat cello bags. Folded in half the long way, it fits the medium ones. (It was only later that creative stampers found so many other wonderful uses for it!).
The paper is Riding Hood Red. The strip behind it comes from the new Memory Lane DSP collection. (I'd cut the strips--then just set it on the Top Note die where I wanted it to be, and it trimmed the sides to the proper curve. You could also attach the strip the the paper and cut out both layers together--but I probably wouldn't get things straight that way!). Oh, then stamp (Riding Hood Red ink)--this came from the Punches Three set (it was a Level 2 Hostess set from the last catalog), and punch it out with the Scallop Square punch (turn the punch upside down to be sure you're cutting it out straight!). Fill the bag and attach with staples to the topper.
Thanks for looking!
Happy Stamping!
--Janis