Countdown to Christmas- Day 21

Hello everyone!  Cannot believe it’s only 4 more days until Christmas.  Just so unbelievable how quickly the time flies by.  At least I’m pretty well good to go at this point.  I’ve mostly finished my shopping and have tackled a large portion of the wrapping.  Tomorrow I plan on doing some baking.  Want to make some treats for friends and neighbors.  And today I made a few more cards to get mailed out.  At this rate, I should be done by Friday.

I do love this Mistletoe line by Making Memories, and since I still had some scraps laying out on my desk from the other day, I decided to see what else I could create. For this card, I simply used a piece of the striped patterned paper for the background and stitched a zig-zag line on my machine for a bit of detail.  I placed a couple of strips across the width of the card and added the large journaling sticker in the center.  The greeting was cut directly from the patterned paper.

The second card started with the same foundation.

I had one remaining felt embellishment which I paired with a smaller journaling sticker, and again cut the greeting directly from the paper.

I hope that with the hectic pace of the holidays, you all are finding time to enjoy this beautiful season with your friends and family.  It is such a wonderful time of year, and it goes by too quickly.  It’s so easy to lose sight of what’s really important in our rush to get everything accomplished that we set out for ourselves.  I am trying to slow down and savor this special time with my parents and kids.  It is truly a gift.

Before I go this evening, I would like to share this fabulous, yet quick and easy soup recipe that I made tonight.  It is Gypsy Soup, from the Moosewood Restaurant.  One of my favorite soups…..rich and hearty and healthy, too.  Tastes like you slaved away all day, but will only take you about half an hour to prepare.  How perfect is that for this cold and busy time of year?

Enjoy!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Photo courtesy of cooking-books.blogspot.com

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Countdown to Christmas- Day 18

Day 18 realization…………

we have exactly one week until Christmas…..

And I have not finished my shopping, my baking, my wrapping, or my making of the Christmas cards….let alone my mailing of the Christmas cards.

Not good.

My day 18 challenge to self……

Make some Christmas cards that don’t take you all day to make and don’t have embellishments too thick to mail in a regular envelope.

And that’s kinda hard for me, guys.  I have an urge to keep adding pretties to every card, and I haven’t been happy lately unless each card is about a 1/2″ thick.  I want to add big bows and little jingle bells and lots and lots of pop dots.  And the post office does not seem to appreciate these extra, special little touches.

So this is the challenge I gave myself this afternoon.  To create some fairly easy, fairly flat cards that I could quickly get out in the mail.  I only allowed myself the use of pop dots, and used up some scraps of Making Memories Mistletoe papers and remaining embellishments to create 2 sets of 2 cards.

Same card base, just a different felt embellishment.  The Happy Holidays greetings I cut directly from the patterned paper.

Again, the same card base.  I cut the tree images and greetings from the paper.  And on this set, I used the Mistletoe cardstock stickers behind the trees.  I also added a little extra detailing with some machine stitching and touches of Stickles glitter.

Making multiple cards from the same basic design is a trick I utilize often when trying to make many cards at one time.  Why keep re-inventing the wheel?  And besides, this saves my brain cells.

Thanks so much for stopping by everyone!  See you all tomorrow!

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Countdown to Christmas- Day 12

Hello everyone!  Two weeks to go until Christmas!  Are you all ready?  I know I’m not.  But I think I’ll break out the gift wrap this evening and get started on wrapping up a few presents.  Always love how a beautiful package looks under the tree.  I sometimes think the packaging is just as important as what’s inside, so I try to make each present look as pretty as can be.  Try being the operative word.

Here is a scrappy project I’ve recently made, altering a thrift store bi-fold frame into a Christmas keepsake.

That sweet little guy is my friend Kathy’s son when he was a wee babe.  She let me borrow him so I could show how the frame looks all finished.

Here’s where it started.

I painted the back and sides white and added patterned paper and trim to the front of the frame.  I added a fun tie to the side of the frame using some ribbon and trims, a wooden snowflake that I glittered, and a Making Memories Mistletoe felt poinsettia.  The snowflake has been embellished with black micro-buttons and that funky red mesh is recycled netting from a bag of tangerines.  I then had fun decorating each opening for the frame.

And on one final note tonight, I want to take a moment to honor my sweet little hedgehog buddy who passed away this morning.  Sonic was with us for 4 years and truly was a part of the family.   He will forever be missed.

Love you Sonic!

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Countdown to Christmas- Day 5

Hi everyone!  I am one worn out little cookie tonight.  The last 48 hours have been a whirlwind of excitement and activity.  Kathy and I had a lot of fun working our booth at the Raleigh Winterfest kickoff event last night.  We had the prime booth space, closest to the stage and the tree lighting, so we had front row seats for all the activities.  I enjoyed watching the dancers and performers and hearing all the great Christmas music, and the tree lighting was beautiful.

Here are a few photos of our booth.

Not too bad for 24 hours notice.  And we did leave with a few less things than we brought, so I count that as a success.  Hopefully we’ll be able to do it all again next year, and perhaps we’ll even have a little time to plan.

Today I braved the malls and knocked out some of my Christmas shopping.  Feels GOOD to check some items off my list, but it will feel even better to put my feet up.   Before I do, here is a little card set I made recently.

For these cards, I mixed some older paper from Basic Grey and Little Yellow Bicycle with Pink Paislee trims and Teresa Collins journaling cards.  I also added some felt embellishments from Making Memories and American Crafts.

I love those MM felt pieces from the Mistletoe line.  I almost hate to even use them….they’re just too pretty.

Thanks for stopping by!  Think I’m going to go hold the couch up for awhile.

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Rainy Tuesday

Hi everyone!  Boy have we ever done a complete about-face with our weather over the last 24 hours.  We went from golden sunshine and warmth to gray clouds and rain.  Even though it’s a bit dark, Fall is definitely back in the air. And since Fall is my favorite season, I have no complaints about that. Nor can I complain about the glorious view out my back.  Think I could sit and stare out my windows all day.

 

But instead of sitting around, the rainy day has driven me into my scrap room for a bit of fun.  First, I played along with the sketch over at 2sketches4you.

Patterned Paper: Pink Paislee and Making Memories
Cardstock: Stampin’Up!
Felt Dimensional Sticker and Die-Cut Tag: Making Memories
Rub-On: Deja Views
Pearls: Kaiser
Ribbon, Tulle, Silk Holly Leaves, Machine Stitching

Today is my day to post on the Webster’s Pages Facebook page.  I posted this set of two turtle dove ornaments I finished this morning.

These birds are fashioned after  some ornaments I made in school when I was in kindergarten.  My mother has saved those original ornaments all these years.  And since I love those first birds, I wanted to try my hand at making some more now.

Here are the directions in case you would like to make some.

Supplies:
patterned paper-  at least two different patterns. Can be double-sided, or  if not, cut two birds for every ornament.  I used paper from Webster’s Pages Home for the Holidays and Hello Beautiful lines.
pearls, small buttons, or gems for eyes
hemp, string, or baker’s twine
glitter
mini bells
lace or trim- I used trims from Webster’s Winter Trim Collection

1.  Trace bird pattern onto patterned paper.  You can use any bird template or download one from the internet.  If you would like to use the same bird I did, just leave me a comment and I will email you the pattern.

If your paper is double-sided, you can cut just one bird per ornament.  If one sided, or if you want the same pattern on both sides, you will need to cut two birds for each ornament.  This is what I did.  If you are going to cut two, remember to reverse your bird pattern before you trace it the second time.  Otherwise you will only have two fronts, and not a back.

2.  Cut out your birds and adhere your front and back sides together.  Embellish the birds with touches of glitter.  I added glitter to the polka dots on the red bird.  The green bird had no embellishment, so I added a heart and flower cut out from some paper and then added glitter around the edge of the heart.  Have fun with this.  Here’s your chance to add whatever detailing you would like to the main body of each bird.

 

3.  Machine stitch about 1/8″ in from the edge around each ornament.  If you don’t have a machine, you can always hand-stitch, or just skip this step altogether.

4.  For the wings, cut one piece of patterned paper to 2 3/4″ x 4″.  You will need one piece for each bird.  Score at 1/4″ intervals lengthwise and then accordion fold.  I used the scoring tool on my personal trimmer, but you can also use a ruler and a stylus, or even the back of a butter knife, to get your crease lines.  Punch a 1/4″ hole in the center of each bird.  I enlarged my hole just a bit more than that by taking little nips around that original hole with my hole punch.  You might have to play with this a bit to get your opening large enough to insert your pleated wings.  Once inserted, fan the paper out.

5.  Add trim to the end of each wing using craft glue.  Of if you would like to be able to remove the wings each year for ease of storage, leave the wings without trim.

6.  Tie a hemp bow around each neck.  A dot of glue at the base of the neck will hold that string in place.  Add a mini bell and tie the cord into a bow.

7.  Add pearls or other embellishment for the eyes.

8.  Punch a micro hole at the back edge of the bird, above the wings for balance, and add a string for the hanger.

Enjoy everyone!  Let me know if you give this a try.  I would love to see how your birds turn out.

Have a great day everyone!

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