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to Bethlehem. Christmas is not too far away and this year I am determined to focus more on the reason we celebrate and less on the celebrating, gifts, make yourself crazy part. It all starts tonight with our small group, we will be doing a study of Advent and finding ways to "prepare" our hearts for Christmas. Giving, not getting. Serving others.
Here is a simple card for Christmas. The image is from CHF, called Mary and Joseph.
It is stamped in navy ink. Navy, silver and crisp white...ahhh. For a touch of twinkle, I used a clear Spica glitter pen on the Northern star. The white panel was embossed with the Moroccan embossing folder.
That's it. simple.
Thanks for stopping!
I made it through a whole day of work and didn't need a nap yesterday! Yippee, I am on the mend.
Last night at our stamp class we had a Christmas party! Ack, I know, so early! But it was so fun and a great way to get in the Christmas spirit. We each brought a snack or two to share so we ate like kings. Buffalo wings, pizza, cheesecake, mmmmm. We exchanged $5 gifts and made Christmas projects.
Here is one of the projects we made, it could either be an ornament or a gift tag.
We started with 2 pieces of certainly celery cut to 3 1/4 x 4 1/2. We marked the center point on the shorter side and cut from that point to the opposite corners to form triangles. If you look at the photo closer you will see there is an old, weathered look to the tree. We did that by wiping the old olive ink pad across the inside of the front flap of the embossing folder before embossing one of the triangles. The embossed parts remain un-inked for a great 2 tone look.
Tip: the clear folders allow you to see exactly where you are placing your card stock, in this case I positioned it to get the maximum number of birds onto my tree.
We colored the berries with a red Spica glitter pen. We sandwiched a strip of chocolate chip card stock in between the 2 triangles for the trunk. This gives a nice finished look to your piece. We left the second triangle plain so it could be written on for a tag but you could emboss both sides if you use it for an ornament. I didn't have a small enough star punch so we used one of the flowers from an SU punch that had 3 flowers. The flower hides the hole punch for the gold cord we tied at the top for hanging.
This could be a fun project to do with your kids.
Thanks for visiting! Have a great day.
After spending most of the weekend on the sofa I am attempting to go to work today.
On Friday CHF released 2 more stamps from the Shady Tree Studios line. They are wonderful for coloring. Here is a card using the new "Skate Scene".
The image was stamped onto smooth watercolor paper and colored with dye inks. There is Liquid Applique on the top of the skates and hat.
The skates totally reminded me of when I lived in Germany and my parents would drop me off at the skating rink most Saturdays. I thought I was so cool because I spin a little, lol. These days my skates have been retired. You know that saying, "the bigger they are, the harder they fall"? Enough said, lol.
Have a great day, thanks for stopping by.
I took the morning off on Wednesday so a friend of mine could help me with a sewing project. We managed to finish everything (thanks Sheryl!) but by the end I could feel my body getting achy. When I got home I laid on the sofa and began to shake uncontrollably. It physically hurt to shake that bad. So yesterday I stayed home sick. The flu maybe. I am going to try to go to work today but I don't anticipate making it a full day.
I did want to share that the $5 Martha Stewart punches were not a mistake! I found more at a different store and also heard from some of you that you found them to be on sale. Yippee! So glad I can enable, er help, lol.
On Tuesday night I had another Christmas card Stamp a Stack. Here is one of the cards we made...
My friend Lynn just recently purchased this stamp by Memory Box and was kind enough to let us borrow it for the class. We added gold glitter dots to the centers of the flowers.
I brought some apples and dip to snack on and all the ladies asked for the dip recipe. So, I made a recipe card. I used part of a new stamp being released today by CHF called Kitchen Window.
Here's the recipe for Toffee Apple Dip
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 bag toffee bits (Heath or Scor)
Sliced apples
Beat everything but toffee in a bowl until blended. Stir in toffee. Serve with sliced apples.
Alternative: Substitute 1 cup chopped peanuts for toffee bits
Well, I am off to attempt a few hours of work. Thanks for stopping by!
Are you a bargain shopper? Do you like to experience the thrill of a deal? I am and I do! I wish I had more time for it. I am in a bit of a house revamping mood lately and the only way to afford it is to bargain shop, re-use, repurpose, paint and so forth. We are making very slow progress on the bathroom. Maybe this week.
In the mean time, I have been patiently looking for additional counter top and storage ideas for my stamp room. When my guys were on the scout outing Saturday, I took the opportunity to do some bargain hunting. Buffalo is about a 45 minutes away and they have a Habitat for Humanity ReStore. This is a great place to find furniture, doors, fixtures and various house related items. Most of the donated items are used but not always. I spent an hour carefully sifting through everything. They had some antique furniture items that would be a DIY'ers dream! At the end of the hour, I purchased 1 thing, an 8' length of counter top. It was brand new, in a blue I was sure was a close match to what I already had and there was no back splash. I was thrilled to bits and it only cost me $30.00. I was halfway to my stamp room solution.
My next stop was Hobby Lobby but on the way I passed the Buffalo City Mission Thrift Store. Several stops at local Salvation Army stores last week left me disappointed but I had the time so I ventured inside. I am so glad I did. This store was clean, bright, organized and chock full of amazing bargains. My find of the day was a cabinet that I knew would be perfect. I am guessing it is a sideboard or buffet. There are 3 middle drawers and 2 end cabinets, each with a fixed shelf. It is made by Stanley and is a quality piece in very good condition. The price of $40 seemed a steal but then I noticed orange signs everywhere that read, "Managers Special, all furniture 30% off TODAY". Quick...mental math...yep, $28. I ran to the register so fast I think I caused a draft, lol. I didn't even care if it would fit into my van. Thankfully it did, right next to the counter top.
The sun was going down so the photo stinks, but here are my finds...
The cabinet is so lovely, it may get painted and repurposed down the road but for now, it is in my stamp room. Again, a lousy photo, but here it is in the basement, all set up. For a second I thought I would wait until I cleaned it up but I know better. It will never be clean and presentable, lol. It is what it is and I like it ;).
Yesterday I stumbled onto another find that I just have to tell someone about. Lucky you, lol! I went to the Super Walmart to grab some groceries. Even though this store's craft section is LOUSY, I had to check to see if I "needed" anything. I have been looking for the Martha Stewart Loopy border punch for 2 months now. Even my LSS can't seem to get enough of them in to fill all the requests. I did a quick scan and was almost ready to walk away when down on the bottom shelf I spotted some border/corner sets. Shoot, no loopy border! Wait...there was one all the way in the back, almost like someone tucked it out of sight. I had to get down on my knees to get it. Desperate times I tell ya! I didn't even care that I already had the corner punch. The shelf tag said it was $20 and I was good with that. It was worth just to end my frustrating search. Before I leave a store, I always double check my receipts (learned that one the hard way) and lo and behold, the punch set rang up not as $20 but get this...$5! Well, like any good paper crafting addict, I immediately went back into the store to see if the other ones were on sale as well. They had 2 each of the spider web, fall leaves and scallop 3-dot. I used a price checker to verify the price and yep, all came up $5. I bought them all cause I knew my friend would want them at that price. I was so excited yet felt a little like I had stolen something.
Now, my guess it that some new employee made a mistake. I have a hard time believing they meant to sell these sets at $5. But just in case, you might want to check your Walmart out.
Ahhh, what a satisfying couple of days!
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