Tis the season....

Did you think I had left town for good???!!! Sorry I haven't posted the last week - what a busy time. Thanksgiving was wonderful. I hope yours was as well. Black Friday shopping was unlike any I had ever experienced before. Didn't score any great deals but did get a few things and had a fun time with my mom and kiddo!
Today we will be decorating the house for Christmas! I will be sure to take some pics to share! I love Christmas time! Everyone feels a little more generous and forgiving. I even picked up a couple of extra things to donate to a child for Christmas. Ash loves this idea and would buy everything in the store to give away if I let her. Guess that is a good ting we have taught her but could get a little hard on the wallet!!!! :) I plan on watching my favorite Christmas movie this afternoon - Miracle on 34th Street. I love it - even in black and white.
Well, off to find my way through the pike of boxes to start decorating!! Happy Sunday!

Another cloudy day!!

Happy Tuesday! I hope you all had a great weekend! It seems like I cannot get a post onto here over the weekends! Hopefully things will slow down a little so I can post more often!!
I wanted to let you know that I had a successful craft fair! I was very happy with the sales. I still have some items left if someone is looking for something. Plenty of stocking stuffers too! Tomorrow I will post the pics of my tables!
What are your Thanksgiving traditions?? We always go to my mom's (next door) and each bring certain things. I make an orange molded (moldy according to the kids!) salad. If I didn't bring this - there would be a riot! We have the turkey and all the fixings!! Before the big dinner, while the men folk are hunting, we do crafts with Ash and Grace. This year I think we will be working on their ornaments for a school contest! We also try and watch the parade. AND we take the annual picture of Ash and Grace. We used to take it in Grampa's chair but the girls are getting a little big to both be in the same chair!!! We also scan the sale ads for the biggest and best shopping day of the year!!!
The men sometimes go out hunting after dinner (or hold down the couches) and the ladies go home to rest or play! We usually all migrate back to mom's for a make your own supper of leftovers!!!
And of course, we go to bed early to get rested up for BLACK FRIDAY!!!!! We go for the festivities and atmosphere. We do not run people down getting to the sales. I am hoping to get some deals at Walmart though! Wish me luck!
We decorate for Christmas on the Saturday after Thanksgiving each year! We even broke down and purchased an artificial tree because I want to decorate so early! The hubby just shakes his head!
Please share your Thanksgiving traditions! I would love to hear them! Have a terrific day!

TGIF!!!! :)

Can you believe it is Friday??? I am almost out of time for tomorrows craft fair! I am pretty much done but I do have a few odd ball things to do tonight. Need to wrap my banana bread and make cookies for the crowd to eat! (and the hubby too!). Most everything is packed too.

I have just a couple more things to share today! Remember the paper bag bags I did a while back? I made a couple more with snowmen on them! I just love snowman! And I LOVE LOVE LOVE the More the Merrier set from SU! (Thank you Katie!) That set has so many uses!

I also made a few random gift tags to sell! Everyone needs to add a tag to their gifts and what is better than a handmade one??!! I used a couple of sets but mostly the Perfect Presentation set from SU!

But......... in my surfing today - I found this awesome candle lollipop on Dawn's Stamping Thoughts. I plan on making some of these for gifts! Perhaps I will even stop on my way home tonight and pick up the supplies to make some for tomorrow!!! (like I have extra time!!!)

Well, we will see how tomorrow goes! I really do not have a ton to sell but I want to move the items too! I will let you know! And then.... perhaps I can get my room cleaned up and actually do a LAYOUT!!!! Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Almost TGIF!!!!

Can you believe that November is almost over?? And another week has almost come and gone. Thursdays are so hard for me to get going and stay going! I am really tired today but I have some more items to share with you!

In a spin off of yesterdays snowman soup - I have made some "Snowman Soup for 2" sets. I found these cute snowman tins and added cocoa, mini marshmallows and candy canes for 2 people! I thought they did up quite nicely. On the back I added a poem and directions!

I am also finishing up some altered binder clips. I just need to add some ribbon! These were fun to make! You can use them to hold pictures or Christmas cards, or actually use them to hold papers together!!! The best thing is that they help you use up those little scraps you cannot bring yourself to throw away!! :)

My last picture for you is some stamped tile coasters. I stamped them with stazon ink and baked them in the oven to set the ink. I added some little felt feet to protect table surfaces!

I hope you have been enjoying the projects I have shared with you. I have had fun making them all! Be sure to take some time to stop by the Canton Cruisers Relay for Life Holiday Open House/Craft fair this coming Saturday (Nov 21) from 10-3. It can be your one stop shopping for all your Christmas presents!!! hope to see you there!!!

Happy Humpday!

Hello and Happy Wednesday!!! I hope you are all feeling good today! I think I live by my hand sanitizer!!!

I wanted to share the project my daughter did for her school book report! I think she did an awesome job on her diorama for the book! I will let you know what her grade is!!!!

Ok - on to more fun stuff!!

I spent a bit of time last night working on projects! I am almost done! I am hoping to have it all together BEFORE Saturday morning!!!

I did a bunch of "treat" bags to sell at the craft fair! I did some reindeer poop, elf droppings, snowman poop, snowman soup, turkey poop, tins of snowman soup for two and reindeer nose repair kits! These were so much fun to do! I even found a Christmas story one to make using M&M's and the story of Christ's birth! Loved it too much to not share it with everyone!

I also made some cute little snowmen for my daughter to sell using........toilet paper rolls! I was up LATE one night and decided to try it! She loves them too! I may use this project for our Thanksgiving day craft!

Can you believe my table? It is full of stuff for Saturday and I still have some unfinished projects to add to the piles!

Thanks for popping by! More tomorrow!!!

Tuesday again!!

Good morning all!! I have been MIA! It seems like forever but it has only been a few days I know! I have been a busy bee working on items for the open house/craft fair this coming weekend!!! I haven't even had time to take pictures! I will try and do that tonight. I keep finding really cool ideas online to make! I am running out of time! Late nights and early mornings are taking a toll on me! I am running on coffee today!

I hope you all had a great weekend! I know the flu has been hitting really close to home (or at least the fever has). DES has been in a little bubble until now and that bubble has been popped! To all my friends and their families who have been hit - I hope you feel better. We are lucky so far and would love to stay that way! I love my friends but we will NOT be visiting any time soon! I do not have time to be sick!! :)

See you all tomorrow!

More ideas coming your way!

Good morning all! Can you believe another week has almost passed us by? How many days till Christmas now? I have to count again! I need to make a countdown calendar! Perhaps I will see if I can find one online to try out!!! (love surfing the web!)

Today I have two more ideas that I found online. The first is from Splitcoaststampers. It is called a box in a bag. These are so super simple to make and you can make them as short or as tall as you would like. Pop over to their site to check out the tutorial and video on these!!

I am thinking that these would be terrific for some homemade trail mix, or caramel popcorn, or chocolates. Anything really!

The next idea came straight from Angela's site again! She has some of the coolest ideas! These hold a mini loaf of bread. What a beautiful way to jazz up a gift! When I get the bread made - I will wrap a belly band around it and embellish it. Check out Angela's site to see what she did. She also has the directions there for you. You have to go back a ways to find it but it is there!!!

I hope I have been giving you some ideas for gift giving! I am attending a ladies craft day at my church this Saturday and will have some more (non papercraft) ideas to share. If you are interested in joining me - please let me know! The more the merrier!!!!

Have a terrific day!

Happy Veteran's Day

Happy Wednesday all! And a Happy Veteran's Day. Please take a few minutes to pray for all our servicemen and women whose service allows us our freedoms.

Today's post is cased from my pal Angela's site. I tweeked it a little to make it my own and added it to a large white gift bag. I love snowmen and this one is no different. I love the way the nose pokes out! It adds so much character!!! I would love to receive a gift in this bag! I know I will be making more this year! The lady Angela got the idea from has some cute pics of other characters like Santa and a reindeer! (Check Angela's site to get the link to her site) I might give them a try someday soon! I might even try to die cut a small bird to add to the hat! Who knows what I will come up with!!! (I do think I need to add some marks to the eyes to add some depth. )

I hope you liked this guy! Let me know what you think!!!! I love hearing from you!

Remember - we live in the land of the free because of the brave.

Happy Tuesday!

Wow - it is Tuesday again! Where did the weekend go?? I meant to post yesterday but I was playing all day!! So today I have some ideas to share with you!

I was working on some gift card holders - like I promised! These 2 stockings are sooo cute! You lift the flap and insert the gift card inside! Who wouldn't like to see one of these hanging on the tree. I still need to decide which ribbon to tie on the tops of mine! I might even add a cute tag with the ribbon!

The next ones I found on Dawn's Stamping Thoughts blog. These are so easy to make. Cut the paper (she has a great video tutorial on her site - here) and use the word window punch to make the hole for the gift card. Then cover the front with the paper of your choice (I wanted to make a couple in other themes than Christmas), being sure to not add adhesive in the middle where the card goes. You could decorate the inside if you wanted to. And the last item I want to share today is these cute bags I made from plain brown lunch bags! So cute and so easy! (love easy!) I saw these on SplitcoastStampers and thought how easy they would be. I am sure there is a tutorial out there somewhere! When I find one - I will let you know where to find it!!!

I hope you had fun today! Wait till you see the adorable gift bags I made this weekend as well! Be sure to check back tomorrow!

Directions as promised!

Happy Friday again! This morning we awoke to about 1/2" of snow covering everything! The kids were excited (not realizing it would be gone by the time they got out of school!). I still think it is too early but apparently Mother Nature didn't take my opinion into consideration! :)

I said I would share the directions on how I made the gift card holders I posted earlier. So - here we go!

I cut my bazzill cardstock at 4 1/2" x 12". Be sure to use a heavy cardstock that will not tear when you score it! Score the cardstock at 1 1/4", 6 1/2", and 6 3/4". Fold and crease each score line. I cut about 1/2" off the inside section with deckle edged scissors to make a decorative edge. I also cut just a smidge off the front edge as well.

I cut a piece of patterned paper at 4" x 3 5/8" and adhered it to the front of the holder. The white piece is cut at 2 1/2" x 2 1/2". I stamped my image onto the white (Greetings Galore stamp set from SU) with stazon ink, sponged the edges, colored with markers and adhered onto patterned paper.

I used the small double rectangle punch from SU to make my slots for the ribbon. Remember to punch these holes through only the top and back, so when you close it - you just tuck it under the top flap.

I took a regular legal sized envelope, sealed it and cut it at 4". I added a strip of sticky strip to the middle of both the back and the front. I also added a couple of small pieces on either side of the top for added protection! Peel off the backing of the back setion (I put the sealed side down) and place just above the scored line, centered on either side. Peel off the sticky strip on the front and lay the top part of the holder down onto the envelope, being sure to line up edges.

Add some ribbon and embellishments as desired and you have a gift card holder!!!!! Please let me know if you have any questions!

TGIF!!!

It's Friday!!! It's Friday!!!! I am so excited! I get to play this weekend in my scraproom, while the hubby is hunting. I am hoping to get it cleaned up as well! If you didn't see the before pics, check one of the posts below and see my messy room!!! Today is also my 16th wedding anniversary! Time flies! I am so lucky to be married to a wonderful man!

Today is just a couple of gift card holders I have made. I am hoping to make more designs this weekend! Some people feel gift cards not a "real" gift but what is better than getting to choose exactly what you want???!!! They are a perfect gift! But a perfect gift needs a perfect package! These holders have a secret inside - a plain white envelope!!!

These were also made from scraps I had in my stash. The first one is one of my favorites! I used the Country Morning hostess set from SU for the first one. I stamped the images in chocolate chip ink and colored them with my watercolor pencils (since I have used them all week - I must love them!) I also sponged the edges of my white cardstock mat with the chocolate chip ink. I matted the image with a hunter green cardstock and mounted onto the main part! I will post directions for this type of gift card holder tonight for all to see and use!

The second holder was stamped with the Garden Whimsy stamp set from SU! I stamped the butterfly and then stamped it again on scrap paper and cut it out and mounted it with the wing bent up for some dimension! You cannot see it very good but I added a flower in a light peach color and some ladybugs as well. The background paper was, once again, something I had in my scrap stash.

I am excited to also post some different styles of gift card holders! They will be showing up here soon!

Thanks for all you great comments and notes! I am loving my blog and having a place to share what I love to do!

It's almost Friday!!!

Can you believe another week has almost come and gone? And there is only 50 days till Christmas! I am already thinking about Christmas carols and decorating! (sad I know!) I love Christmas!

Todays post is one more card set for you! I am making a set of 12 this time. 4 of each stamp with a little variation in the designs. This post shows the 3 stamps with the same layout!

I used the Holiday Lineup stamp set from SU! I stamped them in black stazon (does anyone else love the smell of the black stazon??!!). I colored them with watercolor pencils. I used misc paper from my stash (great way to use up my scraps). The ribbon I added onto the bottoms is from a holiday collection I believe I purchased at JoAnn's at some point. On the snowman one - I decided to add a snowflake button for a little zing! I am thinking about adding a sparkly small red pompom to the reindeer's nose. Please tell me what YOU think!!!

Hope you enjoyed todays project! I am looking forward to getting some more done to share over the weekend! I will post some of the gift card holders I have started on tomorrow! Have a terrific Thursday!!!!!

Happy Humpday!

UPDATED WITH PHOTOS!!! (sorry!)

Todays post is some more Christmas cards I have made for the open house! This is a set of 4, made with the More the Merrier hostess set from SU!
I used some gray-blue bazzill cardstock and inked it with a sponge with pacific point SU ink around the edges and into the cardstock.
I added small snowflakes with a stamp from the Perfect Presentations SU set with white craft ink. After they dried, I also inked a scrap piece of white cardstock and placed that about 2/3 of the way down on the card. I stamped the snowmen from the More the Merrier set with black stazon and colored them with watercolor pencils. I mounted the image on black bazzill and added stickles to the hats and snowpiles. I just love snowmen so this set is one of my favorites!

I am working on a variety of gift card holders that I am hoping to share with you this week! I will be back tomorrow with one more set of Christmas cards to share!!! Have a great day!!!

Happy Tuesday!!!

Here I am again! I survived the weekend and Halloween! Hope you did too!! If anyone needs some candy - let me know!

Yesterday was spent playing in my scrap room since the hubby was out working all night the night before, so therefore, no noisy housework for me!! (yeah!)

I really need to clean up my scrap room since I have been bouncing from project to project. Here are some pics of the mess I call my own!!!

I decided to make some Christmas cards to have on hand at the open house! I have also found some new ideas to make and just need more time!!! More scrap time - less surfing time!!

The first set is simply some scrap striped paper and I inked up one snowman from the More the Merrier Hostess set from SU! (love that set but didn't get close enough to earn it.... if someone wants to sell theirs...) :) I did add some stickles glitter to the hat top and the snow piles at the bottom. I made 2 with red scallops and 2 with green scallops! My problem is deciding whether to add a sentiment inside or leave it blank for people to write. Please let me know what you think!

More ideas tomorrow!! Thanks for popping by!

Halloween

Happy Sunday all!! A quick post to share some Halloween pics from the weekend! Friday night was the school dance with the principal doing the DJ work! Saturday was of course Halloween and we had a new experience, Tractor Treating!!! I love living in a small town. We had about 20 kids and 15 adults riding around on a flatbed pulled by a huge tractor. (Thanks Carl) We would make several stops and catch up with the tractor for another street. It rained a little but all the kids had a ton of fun!

Ash was so excited to find a Cleopatra costume this year. We went all out with the wig and makeup. We even did the bright blue fake eyelashes! She looked really good! We now are the proud owners of several pounds of candy we don't need!!

I hope you all had a great weekend and I am looking forward to posting more great holiday ideas tomorrow!