HAPPY NEW YEAR

I was totally inspired by the January 2010 online extra available through Stampin' Success (a SU! demonstrator only publication). When I saw the picture in the magazine, I knew I would have to give them a try. Although they took hours to make, they were so fun and so different than things I usually make.I love shabby, vintage, feminine styles. I made a total of 4 hats and will use them at a friend's house for New Year's festivities tomorrow night. I will give one to each of the girls at the party. I hope they enjoy them and will use them at least for decoration in years to come.

I stamped a flourish on patterned paper with versa mark. Covered images with Heat and Stick Powder and sprinkled with Dazzling Diamonds glitter- "Man, I used nearly an entire bottle". I cut the 12x12 paper in half diagonally then rolled the sides to form a cone shape. I used Sticky Strip to adhere all. I cut strips of paper and fringed the edges (like grass) and also added fringed newspaper behind the other paper strips. I made paper pinwheels (behind buttons), Butterflies (sizzix original diecut- SU! exclusive design), stamped word strips, and attached all with hot glue gun. I added felt flowers ( SU! flower fusion- retired), rhinestone brads (SU!), snowflakes, buttons, wire, beads, and more glitter (DD SU!) to finish everything.

Here's a close up of the paper pinwheel, one of the butterflies, a snowflake, and some of the paper fringe detail on the lower portion of the hat. Thanks for stopping by, Happy New Year!!!!!

I did some more baking today. I have baked a couple times this month but, all has been either shared or eaten. We needed more cookies for Santa tomorow. I mixed up a couple batches and made 2 kinds of cookies with each batch. I made peanut butter criss cross cookies and peanut blossoms, then I made chocolate crinkles and added almonds to make double chocolate almond cookies. I whipped up a couple quick breads and baked them in a mini bundt pans or mini loaf pans. I also made some candies; chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate covered oreos, and rice crispy white chocolate bars. The house has smelled delicious today. YUM!

Here is a little close-up picture of a small tree that I put in my craft room. I found these fluffy white snowflakes at a local Dollar Store and made the acrylic snowflakes (hard to see in the photo). I ran the acrylic pre- cut flakes through my embossing machine and added glitter, bling, ribbon, and a punched snowflake tag to the top. I had 3 mercury glass birds (found last year after Christmas super cheap) with real feather tails that I thought would look beautiful on a few of the branches. I did not have a tree topper so I used a few organza ribbons and tied them into a bow. Although the tree does not have lights, I love how it turned out.

Christmas Ornaments

Here are a couple of the star/ poinsettia ornaments we made at my workshop a couple weeks ago. They look harder to make than they are. We used a retired line of SU! paper. They work best when you use two sided papers.


Here is a picture of a paper bulb we made at the same workshop. SU! had a paper pack designed to make these last year in their holiday mini. I just cut strips on my own and they worked perfectly. I added a silk poinsettia and a SU star punch to the top. Attached all strips with mini brads. Viola! Super Easy!

A brief Sunday Post

Good Sunday to all. Hope you are all staying warm, dry, and healthy. My youngest has been ill all day. This is her fourth bout of illness since the end of Sept when she contracted Swine Flu. My oldest missed a day of school this week with an intestinal bug. My well- loved dog (14 years old this week) has had a hard time healing from a surgery she had at the beginning of the month. We are now going to the vet every couple days for treatments and bandage changings. My parents lost their dog last week- she got ill quickly and had to be put down. Its been a rotten December thus far. So busy...
I did meet a long time friend for dinner last night, although I was tired, I enjoyed the time out very much. We always pick up where we left off the last time we met. It always a fun time.

I went to a cookie exchange this afternoon with friends from High School. It was so nice to see everyone and hear about their lives and families. Life goes by so fast and changes occur all the time. wow, today proved that.I'm thankful for all their health and their friendships. Hope you all are finding enjoyment and time to spend with friends and family during this hectic time.

Merry Christmas.

The last day of 12 days

Here is my last tag in my series. I hung them all on my tree along with other bought, vintage, and homemade ornaments. They look great, I've got comments on them... people like them too.
I'm glad I made them.
This tag has more clutter than the rest. I used misc paper scraps to cover the tag. I colored (pencils) and inked (classics) the Santa image. I used the uniball white pen from SU to add detail on his beard. Distressed over the ink and it resisted the ink. You can see his beard still appears white. Love this Santa image from SU! This is my favorite holiday image this year.

Tags 10 and 11

Today is my mother in law's and my grandfather's birthday. We are going out to dinner tonight with my in law's and I am taking dinner to my grandparents for them to eat tonight or sometime this weekend. Happy Birthday Jackie and Harold!
This tag uses the same line of papers (misc.) distressed as I did the others. I came across an old dimensional sticker (topiary) and I distressed with ink and attached. The glitter was already on the sticker (bonus). I hadded the sentiment and "viola!"


I love this stamp set from SU! (last year's release). I have used these skaters many times and for many things- mostly tags. I added vintage chunky glitter on the snowflake, around the sentiment block, and the torn paper at bottom (snow). I used ink, pencils, and dabbers to color the skaters. Added shine to their skates with silver gel pen. I added bright white to the ladies fur on her hat and gloves with the SU white uni-ball gel pen. Thanks for stopping by.

Tag #9

This one was a quick one. Distressed some music note paper. Attached chipboard words. colored and attached gift images at the bottom. Distressed the ribbon (scrap believe it or not). I had to use more shimmer and bling, that seems to be my thing lately. Love the "glitz". Thanks for stopping by.

TAG 8

Here is another horizontally oriented tag for my 12 part series. I had a really fun time creating these beauties. I love the vintage look and rarely stamp/ craft in this style. This tag is so pretty in real life- I'm in need of a new camera. Maybe I should ask Santa, huh?
Used various paper scraps and distressed edges with cocoa, caramel and/ or choc. chip. Turned various papers into chipboard and added embellishments like; glitter, gel pens, paper piercing, and 3D paper paint.
Thanks for stopping by, Merry Christmas. Stay warm.

On The 7th Day Of Christmas...

MAGIC... this time of year is so magical especially for the children. Don't you remember the magic you felt when you woke up Christmas morning and that special gift was under the tree. Oh, to be young again and experience those special feelings. Now as a mom, I still feel a bit of magic and happiness when I see my girls and loved ones open up gifts that they love or are happy about. This tag is one of my favorites in my series. I love how it turned out. The horizontal orientation, the ribbon, the stars all work perfectly. I used pop dots and chipboard to add dimension and depth, which is hard to see in this picture. I used dimensional paper paint to further accent the border of the sentiment and definition portion of the tag. Thanks for stopping by. Have a great week.

Tags 5 & 6 of Christmas...

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow... here is tag #6 for my series 12 Tags of Christmas. Sorry these are posted so late- this weekend has been very crazy busy with vet appointments, sports 2 times on saturday, dog issues (my pooch had a big surgery on Thurs. am.), workshop and cancer benefit dinner all done on Saturday. I tried to "veg" out with my girls and watch Harry Potter Movies today.
As you can see I went with a snowflake theme. I'm really into snowflakes this year. I decorated my tree with a ton of them. I had a workshop yesterday and we made acrylic snowflake tags/ ornaments and a folded paper snowflake/ poinsettia ornament. I decorated my craft room tree with the acrylic snowflakes.
Used a mixture of die cut and punched snowflakes. Rhinestone brads (SU!).

Here is Tag #5 in the series. These tags all use the same papers, distressed look, misc. embellishments, spray glitter/ shimmer, and tag size as seen on all the previous uploaded tags. I found this gorgeous, large, fabulous button (center of the large snowflake) in a specialty store and had to have it. It definately has a vintage feel to it.

Ok, I'm posting a bit earlier than I have all week. Here is tag #4 for from the series. I used my electronic die cut machine to cut out the stars and letters. The snowman is from an older 3D Christmas sticker pack I've had for 3+ years. I distressed the edges of the snowman to match the rest of the tags in the series. Thanks for looking. Let me know what you think.

On the third day of Christmas...

Here is tag #3. Again, its distressed, collaged, and sprayed with sparkle. I love the muted colors on this paper. I used pigment markers to color the images. I found these small wire and thread candy canes in the miniature section at a local craft supply store last year and I love them. They really come in handy on holiday cards. Thanks for stopping by, have a great Thursday.

On the second day of Christmas...

Here is tag #2 in my 12 tag series. I used the same mixture of papers, inks, and embellishments as noted on the first tag. I love this shabby, vintage, old look. It is one of my favorite styles in stamping- believe it or not. I know I don't often do this style but it is my favorite- I feel it is not my strongest stamping/ crafting style and I could use a little help perfecting it. There are fabulous shabby stampers out there and I love to visit their blogs- often. happy Wednesday and have a great week, thanks for stopping by.
Materials: SU! caramel and cocoa inks to distress. SU and other vendor papers. SU! crystal brads. Misc. ribbon, bling, paper flowers, chipboard.

As promised, here is the first tag in my 12 Tags Of Christmas Series. I went for the collage. shabby, layered, vintage look. Had a blast making all these tags (you will see in the next two weeks).

I used creamy caramel and close to cocoa to distress the edges. I added misc. emellishments fromnumerous companies. The paper was a mix of SU! and other vendors. They all work nicely together. Love these colors- old olive, ruby red, cranberry, garden green, caramel, cocoa, and chocolate chip.

In this picture you can really see the shimmer spray (pearl-like) I used. I love to add shimmer to everything- can't wait for SU! to come out with this type of stuff. It would be great to have to correlate with their colors, wouldn't it? They are the "bomb" when it comes to color and style coordination.

Santa's at the HOLIDAY LOUNGE

MOJO115

What a fun sketch! I had a blast making these cards this afternoon. I made 8 of the same design- 4 teal and 4 red. These non- traditional Christmas Colors are awesome.The DS paper is Holiday Lounge by SU! and the stamp set is Just Beclause also by SU! I used confetti white as the base and the image circle. I used Whisper White organza 5/8" from SU! I love how they turned out. You can see a glimpse of both colors below.

I have been so busy trying to get into the Holiday Spirit. I've been cleaning, decorating, planning for a workshop this weekend, doing laundry, visiting family, shopping for both gorceries and gifts, wrapping gifts, planning holiday meals and planning my baking, and finally fit some stamping today. I even fit in a movie (rental) CHANGELING (I think that is how you spell it) while stamping this afternoon. It starred Angelina Jolie and took place back in the 1920s. It was a good movie. My daughter had seen it prior to me and recommended it.

I will be doing 12 TAGS of CHRISTMAS starting tomorrow. Please stop by and check things out.

MOJO112

PLAYING AROUND WITH THIS WEEK'S MOJO SKETCH. USED AN OLD SIMPLY SCRAPPIN' KIT (WINTER BRIGHT 2007) TO CREATE THIS SIMPLE CARD. I CONFESS, I BUY A TON OF STUFF, PUT IT IN A "SAFE PLACE" AND THEN FORGET WHAT I HAVE. ANYONE ELSE DO THIS? LOVE THESE COLORS- WASABI IS STILL ONE OF MY FAVORITES OF ALL TIME. I EVEN BOUGHT A JACKET IN THIS COLOR.
SUPPLIES: wasabi, bashful, real red, blue rhinestone brad, wasabi ribbon, staple, corner punch, circle punch, scallop circle punch, kit stickers.

Giant Pumpkin Cookies

I did some baking today-YUM!

PUMPKIN COOKIES
1 box of Spice cake Mix
1 can pumpkin (standard size, not large)
1 egg
FROSTING
1 can cream cheese frosting
Mix all together, use large cookie/ muffin dropper and drop onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes until center is firm. Cool on rack and frost. Makes 18-20 large delicious cookies.

I learned this recipe Thursday morning on a local news channel and knew I had to try it sometime this weekend. I love to bake but not always from scratch- after all, I need some time to stamp. Got to love the 3-4 ingredient recipes.

I have been trying to cook 2-3 meals every Sunday so they can be heated throughout the week or frozen and cooked at a later date. So far so good... In the past few weeks I've made baked potatoe soup, seafood lasagna, regular lasagna, stuffed peppers, calzones, pepperoni rolls, enchilada casserole, chicken parmesan,sloppy joes, cake, cookies, rice krispy treats, chocolate covered pretzels, and pizza. This has been so helpful after work. Meals get cooked or reheated in time for everyone to make it to the after school activities. Thanks for stopping by. Have a great week. Email me if you have questions about my products or my easy recipes.

DIE CUT IMAGES SILHOUETTES

I've been playing around with my electronic die cutting machine today. I like to change things up every once in a while and do die cut images instead of stamped images. I used some paper bought a local craft store last fall. I love the colors in it (yellow, orange, brown, and hot pink). I thought the colors and pattern were funky. The die cut images work perfectly with this paper, don't you think?

SU! HOLIDAY BEST Level I item number 115364 sentiment used on the Pilgrim hat card.

Give Thanks... to Mary Fish

This MOJO111 challenge was inspired by Mary Fish. I also used the card on page 31 of the SU! Holiday Mini as inspiration. I admire everything that Mary makes. She truly amazes me, I love her style! She's truly inspirational. "Kudos" and "thank- you" to you Mary (check out her blog on my favorite blog link list to the right).
Stampin' Up!- Olive, Tangerine, Not Quite Navy, Cocoa, Cream CS used. Gobble Gobble stamp used (pg 31 of holiday mini). Mini buttons, brads.

I decided to make some tags to match the cards with all the extra paper pieces and scraps instead of throwing the strips in my scrap box. I will use them on baked items- quick bread loaves or packages of fresh cookies to give to friends or family. I also have a couple November birthdays that these will work perfectly on the gift bag.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great week.