Those of you who have been visiting with me for awhile know that I have a thing for the seasons and holidays. I just cannot let one pass without adding a few festive touches to my home. It is quite a bit of work to change things out so often, but so worth it to me. I find that stopping and taking note of each passing season helps me reflect on each day, each chunk of time, each period in my life. Guess I can’t help being more and more sentimental as the years go by.

Contrary to what might be expected, I don’t actually have that many “winter” seasonal items. Well……not like I do for the other holidays. But by mixing in some of my everyday things, like my white ironstone china and shiny silver hammered aluminum, and a few remaining Christmas goodies, I do manage to transform the house into a winter wonderland.

As always, I try to fill my home with my favorite things. Treasured things. Things that are special to me and make me smile. Things passed down from my mom. Things I’ve collected over the years. And always, always, always….things made by me, my friends, and my precious kiddos. Like this snowman family, all of which have been made for me at one time or another by my little sweetie, Missy Nik.

Wooden shapes and old socks. Styrofoam balls. Beads and pipe cleaners, pom poms and drippy paint. How I love every tiny detail.

Some of these snowmen were made by me, years ago when I had a crafty group with some of my girlfriends. We’re talking about starting it up again next month. Smiles!

My son painted the picture on my mantel when he was in third grade. It is a scene from a day we spent sledding down our cul-de-sac on a rare snowy day. What a happy family memory. And what a wild ride that was. We all had to wipe out at the bottom of the hill to keep from taking out a flower bed at my neighbor’s house. Both my kiddos were so small, Nik only 3 years old, and yet totally willing to fall off that sled at high speeds. That’s Pete wiping out in the picture.

It’s soon time for Valentine’s. I’ll have to start working on that when I get home from the beach. Doesn’t time just fly?

Thanks so much for stopping by. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Quiet, but still very busy. Because even though CHA stuff is now over, there’s still lots to do. Like work on my project for this….

So excited! Echo Park and Epiphany Crafts are partnering up to bring you a fun hop filled with inspiration, ideas and projects from both teams, and of courses prizes! It all starts Monday, January 30th.

I’m also busy packing for this….

The 10th Annual Scrapbooking Beach Retreat in Myrtle Beach. I’m leaving tomorrow morning for 4 days of scrappy happy at the beach with some of my girlies. Cannot wait to go. Still so much to do.

So sorry for being quiet. I’m going to miss you all.  Will try to load a few posts for while I’m gone. There’s maybe a few peeks I can share with you, and I still haven’t showed my January winter decor. I’m sure you’re all just itching to see my snowman collection, right?

I started with a wooden heart from my local big box craft store. Added patterned papers, journaling cards, and cardstock stickers. Some vintage seam binding from my stash. Cut a thin strip of scalloped velvet trim and rolled it into a flower for the center of my bow.

Stamped the Winged Heart in black ink onto patterned paper and trimmed it out. Added glitter to the edges and popped it onto my heart using foam adhesive for dimension. Topped it with an Epiphany Crafts heart button.

For more great Valentine ideas, be sure to check out the Prickely Pear Rubber Stamp blog. And don’t forget about our current sketch challenge going on here. Thanks so much for stopping by today! Wishing you all a wonderful day.

Years and years ago, when I was first bitten by the papercrafting bug, I became a Stampin’Up demonstrator. This little heart box was a project I used to make at my parties, and it was always a big hit. I haven’t made one in the longest time. How it does take me back.

I mostly used my Glue Arts Studio Calico kit from earlier this week, mixed with lace, trims, and stickers from Echo Park. And of course I used some sweet Epiphany Crafts hearts. These are made using the Button Studio Tool Heart 20 plus the matching Heart Button Caps.

Added a Round 14 Button on the accompanying tag, too. Tucked the tag, along with a butterfly stir stick into the pocket and tied it all up with a bit of tulle. You can fill the pocket with sweets, love notes, or small gifts for that special someone for a very special Valentine treat.

For a complete supply list and step-by-steps, including the template I used to create this heart pocket, please visit the Epiphany Crafts blog. Leave a comment while you are there, and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win this week’s prize, an Epiphany Crafts Button Studio Heart Tool and Heart Button Caps.

Good luck everyone, and thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I’ll be hiding away in my scraproom, working on a few goodies for CHA. That outta keep me busy………

Looking forward to sharing some sneak peeks with you soon.

We were all given one of their fabulous kits to play with. So hard to choose which of the beautiful goodies to dig into first.  I created a fun butterfly gift bag.

Orange and blue has long been one of my most favorite color combos. The bright and summery mix just makes me smile. Love it paired with the sunny yellow of the trim and accents found in this kit. I think you could put it all in a bowl and serve it up with a spoon, and I’d be as happy as can be.

Studio Calico prints all their packaging slips, coupons, and product info onto beautiful patterned cards. I used two of them here, along with a tag and die cut, to create a layered and detailed frame for the center butterfly. And be still my heart…aren’t those butterflies fabulous! I had lots of fun layering them together.

There’s washi tape and Studio Calico exclusive stamps on the tag. Yummy trim, brads. So pretty! If you couldn’t guess yet…..I’m definitely a fan!

For a complete supply list and step-by-steps, visit the Glue Arts blog. And be sure to leave a comment while you are there for your chance to win. We’re giving away the Studio Calico kit I used here today, plus a Glue Glider PRO and a new PRO+ Multdirection Flip Perma Tac Cartridge.

Good luck everyone! And thanks so much for stopping by today!

Over the last several days, I’ve been sharing with you lots of Valentine projects using Prickely Pear Rubber Stamps new release, and today I’m back with one more. This one uses their adorable Fox red rubber image.

That little fox just makes me smile. Takes me back, I tell you. I’m probably dating myself here, but did any of you happen to own a shirt that said Foxy? And was your hair feathered at the time?

Stamped my little fox in dark brown ink on light pink paper and trimmed it out. Colored with Copics and added some glittered detailing. So simple and quick. Popped him on my card panel with foam adhesive for dimension.

Used some of my most favorite things here…….kraft cardstock, doilies, lace and trim. I adore that pink gingham paper from an old Pink Paislee Valentine collection.  The red paper is from a Studio Calico kit. They are our product partner on the Glue Arts blog this week, so you’ll be seeing more of that kit from me soon.

Hope you’ve enjoyed all my Prickely Pear Valentines these past few days. Thanks so much for stopping by today and wishing you all a fabulous day!

I have definitely been in a lovey-dovey frame of mind lately. Guess it’s just that time of year, right?  So for this sketch challenge, I created another Valentine, this time using the Winged Heart image from Prickely Pear’s red rubber collection.

I had fun with some paper piecing and mica glitter flakes on the wings. I do love all the sparkle and shine. Popped the image up to create depth and dimension.

Used some dimensional glittered cardstock stickers for the sentiment. It was originally one piece, but I cut it apart to fit the design of the sketch. Papers are from an older SEI collection and the trim is old K&Co. paper frill ribbon, too. Always feels good to use some stash.

I hope you’ll come and play along with our January sketch challenge at Prickely Pear Rubber Stamps. You have until January 31st to upload your sketch projects to the gallery, and the best part is you do not need PPRS products to play along. Anyone can join in. One lucky winner will receive a $15 gift certificate to the Prickely Pear shop. Good luck everyone.

And thanks so much for stopping by today! I’ll be back again tomorrow with another Prickely Pear project for our weekly Monday post. Hope to see you all then!

To celebrate this new release we are having a three day long Blog Party with loads of inspirations by the Design Team and a give away! One happy participant will win a $ 15 gift certificate to the web shop. All you have to do is leave a comment on each of the participating blogs and tell us what you think about the new release. Last day to enter is Sunday 15th midnight EST. The winner will be drawn randomly at one of the participating blogs, and will be presented on the Prickley Pear Blog on Monday.

For my blog hop project, I created a Valentine card using the brand new Ride With Me red rubber stamp.

Isn’t this image just the sweetest thing? I really love the vintage, nostalgic feel. Reminds me of old-time Valentines from my childhood.

Not only is Ride With Me an adorable image, it’s very versatile, too. It looks great stamped as both an outline image, or filled in like I did here. For this project, I added detail through a combination of coloring with Copics and Prisma pencils, and paper piecing. Added even more detail by popping up a second piece of the front of the car on foam dots for dimension.

Created lots of layers for my card using my favorite kraft cardstock and patterned papers. A folded glassine bags holds a grungy prim tag that I stamped with the new Vine Flourish red rubber stamp in bright pink ink. Lots of trims in different textures, a snippet of doily, and a vintage button are the finishing touches.

I hope you’ve enjoyed our Valentine and Steampunk release. Thank you all for hopping along with us. You’ve now come to the end of the hop. If you missed anything at all, you can start at the beginning on the Prickely Pear blog.

Thank you so much for stopping by! I’ll see you back here tomorrow for the reveal of our January Sketch Challenge. Until then, wishing you all a wonderful day.

Can’t wait to share with you the rest. And in the mean time, be sure to check out the first stops along the hops. You have until Sunday to leave your comments on each blog, and a winner will be drawn and announced on the Prickely Pear blog on Monday.

Prickley Pear Blog
Melissa
Angelica
Tesa