advent calendar creation

Christmas time is magical! Well, I want it to be magical. But sometimes in all the hubbub and business, shopping and partying, prepping and scheduling, we forget about why we celebrate Christmas in the first place. We get burnt out and exhausted from everything that we think needs to be done. And so I set about coming up with a way to gently remind myself, and my family, of the reason for the season. A good friend of mine made an advent calendar like this and posted it to facebook. I'm so glad that she did! I stole her idea and ran with it!

My first stop was the dollar store. They have six cup muffin tins for a buck! I thought about using mini muffin tins, but when I decided to put mini candy bars inside the tins, one for each of my family members (that's 4), mini wasn't going to cut it. So full size it is. And it's a good thing too! From a design standpoint, my Cricut had a hard enough time cutting the details at full size. I shudder to think about what I would have gone through trying to cut the images any smaller.

I used the basic cartridge, Printing 101 for the numbers set at a size 3. And I used two Christmas cartridges, Joys of the Season, and Christmas Cheer. I had to play with the size of each image. I still don't understand how to use my Cricut properly! So for me it was a bit of trial and error using sizes 1 1/2 - 3, depending on the image.

I used my trusty Stampin' Up paper (but I think that it's just a little too thick for the Cricut) and stuck with a traditional color scheme of Old Olive, Real Red. I used Soft Suede to make it feel a bit homey, and threw in pops of color when needed for an image. I even got out my glitter paper to give it a bit of sparkle. I really do think that glitter is the herpes of the crafting world. It's pretty much banned from my house! ; )

To adhere everything I used Tombow mulit purpose adhesive. Lots of tiny pieces made glue, not a tape runner, my tool of choice. I have to say that this project took me all day and then some! I was at it from breakfast until the wee hours of the next morning! But all the hard work and time was worth it, as I am in love with the results!

The back side of each muffin cover has a scripture reference and a short devotion. The idea is that each evening, the four of us will gather to take just a few minutes to read the Bible and remember all that God has done for us in giving us his son, Jesus. Just a short pause in what I know will be super busy days and nights! 

As I write this, it's now December 10. We started off with a bang, but we are already a few days behind! Ah well. The best laid plans... We'll catch up!

Merry Christmas and happy stamping!

it's a love/hate relationship

Oh paper piecing. How I adore and detest you all at the same time! It's time consuming, and it's slightly frustrating, and it required tweezers. Tweezers!! But look at the results! Adorable! I so love this card. Even though it took me forever to design and assemble. Even though I had more glue on my fingers than on the card. Even though a few choice words flew out if my mouth during the process. (Can we talk about how tiny those eyes are?!)

And even though it's not perfect (the yellow body shows behind the black on the penguin; the glue shows on his eye), it is simply irresistible and I can't wait to give it to my husband! After I put this card together, my best friend gave me the most amazing tip for adhering the eyes. The very worst part of the project. She puts a tiny dot of glue where she wants to adhere the tiny pupils. Then she uses the Zig Two Way Glue Pen (fine tip) to pick up the pupil and place it. The glue is tacky and holds on to the pupil when she lifts the glue pen away. Pure genius!

Happy stamping! And Happy Thanksgiving!

sponging starlight

My goal was to use a non-Christmas themed stamp set. I was prepping for my Christmas Stamp Camp and I was running out of Christmas stamps for the ten projects that we do. So I pulled out this retired set and got to work making a Christmasy scene out of it. Woodland creatures attracted to the Star's light made a bit of sense. Now, I know that if I were being true to the setting of the first Christmas, more likely animals may have been camels and sheep. But I had deer and rabbits, so I ran with it.

I got out my trusty Post It Notes to sponge a twilight sky, a little hill, and most importantly, starlight! When I was matting my work, it was looking a bit too tidy, so I roughed up the edges of the mats with a distressing tool. The finishing touch, I think! At Stamp Camp, it was fun to see how the ladies worked up their starlight scene. Each one was a bit different. I more defined hill here, more orange in the starlight there. I love seeing what they come up with! Nine times out of ten their projects end up looking better than my original!

Happy stamping!

a new discovery

I just love Stampin' Up's stamp set, Snow Much Fun! I adore snowmen in all their forms. The ones the kids and my husband build in the backyard, the resin ones I place in my windows every Christmas season, those melting ones I see atop cookies on Pinterest. They all capture my imagination. I think that it stems from the classic Christmas movie and song, Frosty the Snowman. And from a recurring dream that my childhood snowmen DID come to life and frolicked on my childhood front lawn. I really did think that they had snow ball fights and decorated the pines across the street while my family slept, unaware.

In any case, snowmen make me smile. And so does this card. Particularly because I discovered a "new" technique. I've been using Classic ink and Aqua Painters for years. Beautiful watercolored flowers, sweet watercolored woodland animals, stunning watercolored landscapes. But lately I've been drawn to white snowmen on craft colored paper and pondered how in the world one would go about making them. Clearly the snowmen I was seeing were watercolored. But the white color had me stumped. I'm not sure why I was being so dense, because the answer was so simple. Craft ink! White craft ink and my Aqua Painter was the simple solution. Using craft ink works exactly like using classic ink. It just takes a bit more cleaning up.

 I will be making a ton of these cards this season. I love the homespun look of the sponged Crumb Cake paper with the white snowman popping out from it! Paper piercing lends a touch of texture, as does the Chocolate Chip ribbon. Sponging Chocolate Chip ink onto the edges of the patterned paper ages things a bit. I think that this is my favorite Christmas card I have ever made. Yup. It really is.

Happy stamping!

Speedy delivery

I love bestowing gifts on friends and family! I love it even more when the gift is hand made. But sometimes, an occasion creeps up on you, and you don't have time to knit a scarf, or string a necklace. 

My co-worker's birthday did that to me. The good news is that I knew that she would love a Hershey bar. Easy peasy, right? But I just couldn't hand her chocolate and call it a day. A conundrum. 

Then I remembered a project that my best friend did awhile back! A chocolate bar slider! The ribbon holds the candy in the sleeve, and when you pull on the knot, the candy slides up! 

I got to work with just 30 minutes until I needed to leave for work. I used an acrylic block, markers and a spritz of water to make the paper for the butterflies, and embossed them with Melon Mambo embossing powder. I love how they turned out! And I love that this simple little thing really made my friend's day! 

Happy stamping!

Simple elegance

Sometimes there is one element on a card that bumps it up a notch. On this card, I think that the ribbon really makes a statement! I'm such a craft supply cheapskate that I rarely use opulent ribbon. It just costs so much money that even when I buy a roll of it, I let it sit in my stash, afraid to actually use it. Silly, huh? Especially when just a little piece makes such a huge difference on a card! Without the ribbon this card would be just "meh".

I have to say that I'm quite happy with how that knot turned out. Tying knots in ribbon is harder than you'd think! And don't even get me talking about actual bows. I've probably used up my allotment of under-my-breath-curses trying to tie cute little bows! Although I have found that tweezers help the process a teeny bit. 

The other element that I love on this card is the use of gold embossing powder. I used it on the sentiment, the ornament, and if you look closely, it's on the edges of the dry embossed panel. It adds a subtle touch of elegance to the card. 

Happy stamping!

Winter memories

Snow Much Fun is one of my favorite Christmas stamp sets! It really is just so cute. It lends itself to water coloring, and to using markers with a blender pen. I chose the former with this card featuring a non-traditional color palette. Crumb Cake, Tempting Turquoise, and Soft Sky with a pop of Real Red! 

Normally I shadow white elements with gray ink. But I remembered my girls making snowmen when they were little. They were so excited about snow falling to the ground! They just couldn't wait to get out there and make a snowman! Often, there really wasn't enough snow for a proper snowman. So what they ended up with was a small, dirty, muddy snowman. So I used Crumb Cake for the shadowing. I love the results!

Now, when I look at this card, I get to reminiscing about winter fun when the kids were small. It puts a smile on my face!

Happy stamping!

Making Christmasy messes

Christmas cards are so fun to make! But when I sit down to make a bunch of them, sometimes I grow weary of green and red color schemes. This card is a departure from traditional Christmas colors, and I giggle a little every time in look at it! Bermuda Bay and Old Olive! Who would have thought that they could make a stunning Christmas card!

The first attempt at this card had clean colors and it just felt a little too stuffy. So I pulled out my Chocolate Chip ink pad and marker and went to work muddying up things. I used the marker around the edges of the ornament stamp. And I used the ink pad and a sponge to soften the edges of the Whisper White and Old Olive card stock. I sprayed splotches of color onto the home made patterned paper to muck things up a bit. 

Sometimes a perfectly pristine card makes me happy. But today wasn't that day. Today I wanted to make a bit of a mess. So I did! And I had a blast doing it!

Happy stamping!

Fresh ideas

There are some stamp sets that I've had forever. And sometimes I feel like I've used them so much that I've done everything that I can do with them. Tried every technique possible. Made every card possible from them. 

Snow Swirled was one of those sets. I thought that creatively, I was done with it. So I sat down with it and challenged myself to do something I've never done with it before. Something fresh, or some new technique. I have to be honest, I sat with the stamps staring back at me for a very long time! I poured through Pinterest. Looked at hundreds of pins! 

And finally I stumbled upon a new idea! I used a marker to highlight the curlicues in the tree! Simple, but effective. It made the stamp feel less formal and uptight. It added some playfulness. I also used markers to highlight the starbursts and I'm in love with the results!

Happy stamping!

Christmas time is here

First, let me say, it's good to be back blogging! Between my new job, taxiing the girls, putting dinner on the table, and coordinating the schedules of two very busy teenagers, the breath of creativity had been blown out. By the time everything was done, and everyone was home for the night, I had nothing left. I was just a lump on the couch, falling asleep there before I could drag my tired body into my own bed!

Thankfully, at the very last minute, I decided to do a craft fair! And I was woefully low on Christmas cards. So I made myself get to work! I browsed my favorite Pinterest boards for some Christmas inspiration, turned up the Christmas tunes, and got to creating! 

I am in love with this card! The colors, it's simplicity, and how in person, the card looks like it's made of leather thanks to the paper piercing!

I combined the piercing with a bit of dotting with a marker for a touch of whimsy. I'm so happy with the results!

I know some of you out there can't stand anything Christmas until after Thanksgiving, but, as a crafter, I love Christmas even before Halloween! 

Happy stamping!

Custom order for Mr. McGregor

Some people can till the earth and make magical things happen. Me? Not so much. This year I did have a bumper crop of tomatoes, a couple of handfuls of beans, and a few cucumbers come out of my 12 plant veggie garden. But I didn't grow enough produce to share with many people.

I had a customer contact me about making a garden themed thank you gift card holder for a master gardener who had shared his cornucopia of veggies with her family. I think that someone talented enough to grow so many veggies that they can give them away is a total genius and worthy of a hand made card of thanks. My customer thought the same thing. So we got to work coming up with this beauty.

A pop up gift card holder is sure to impress "Mr. McGregor"! I added the movie gift card for the purpose of taking this picture. I wouldn't want to give secrets away! 

Happy stamping!

Busy as a bee

Have I mentioned that I started a new job about three weeks ago? Well, if not, I did! And while I'm thankful to have a job, it has cut into my stamping time significantly! And so I've not blogged in a bit. I've been busy, busy, busy learning a new job, juggling my family's crazy schedules, and making crock pot meals. But I have been working on a few custom order cards, and here is my favorite! A birthday card featuring bees and the Honeycomb Embossing Folder!

This card is all about fall colors and rich texture. I love dry embossing the wings of the bee from Backyard Basics. Super cute!

Text

Custom order Halloween

I love opening Facebook and finding a message from someone looking for a custom order card! Now, multiply that by six, and you can imagine my excitement! 

There is something so satisfying in meeting a need; creating the perfect little piece of art; making someone's day. 

And when I work with a customer on a custom order, all of those things happen!

My friend needed a bunch of not-so-scary Halloween cards. No witches, ghosts, or ghouls. So I went with pumpkins and adorable owls. 

Aren't they just precious? 

Lots of paper piecing can be a bit tedious (especially those eensy, weeny, tiny black pupils on those owls!), but the results are phenomenal! 

I'm certain that the children receiving these cards will love them just as much as I do!

Happy stamping!

Custom order 50th anniversary

Lately, I have been super busy working on my favorite kinds of projects. Custom orders! I know how frustrating it can be to make a trip to the drug store to find that perfect card that says just the right thing, in just the right way, for that very special someone, only to be utterly let down when what you were thinking of doesn't exist. (I'm pretty sure that was a run on sentence, but because I'm not being graded on my blog, I'm gonna let it slide. Ok? Ok!)

A customer needed a 50th anniversary card and a cookie cutter, mass produced card just wasn't going to cut it. Fifty years together is sadly, practically unheard of these days. It's an amazing accomplishment and the occasion needed a very special, one of a kind, card. To make it 50 years, a couple needs lots and lots of love (and elbow grease), so I decided to use (yup, you guessed it!) Perfectly Preserved! Are you sick of this stamp set yet? Hearts overflowing and spilling out of a jar feels like fifty years of love to me. 

Of course a card celebrating a golden anniversary needed a golden touch! So I heat embossed some gold embossing powder onto card stock and used a circle punch. A subtle, classy touch!

Happy stamping!

Custom order canning tags

Goody, goody! Another custom order! A friend has been canning her little heart out, bless her soul. She's a better woman than me. I don't enjoy the process of canning, but I totally enjoy the spoils! My friend has been canning gifts to give away at Christmas and wanted some tags to tie onto the mason jars. So I got right to work!

We talked about what she wanted inside the jars, how many tags she needed, and  how big the tags should be. 

I pulled out my Big Shot, current favorite stamp set, Perfectly Preserved, their matching Framelits, my inks and papers and hunkered down for some serious stamping and die cutting! Each tag has at least ten little pieces to create, assemble, and adhere. Whew!

But I have to say, that when I was all done and lined them all up, they are just wonderful! I think they are my favorite special order to date. 

And they make me want to drag out my canning gear. Well, almost...

Happy stamping!

Indian summer

My favorite part of the tail end of summer, here in the northeast, is the corn harvest! Stanton's Farm grows the sweetest corn I have ever experienced. Corn that pops with juicy freshness when you bite into an ear! So I made them a card this year to tuck into their "on your honor" box when I buy my last baker's dozen of the year. 

I had fun making two ears sugar and butter corn. But I had a blast making an ear of Indian corn! The blue kernels, the red kernels, the brown. 

Don't forget to support your local farm stands! Squash and pumpkins, and apples! Oh my! 

Happy stamping!

Alternative canning

I used to can. Applesauce mostly. I used to pretend that I loved it. But really, it's a pain in the neck. All the sterilization. Crazy hot kitchen. Lots of washing, scrubbing, boiling, bubbling, hissing. Hot sweaty mess. Maybe that's why I love the Perfectly Preserved stamp set so much! Canning without the hassle. Of course, there's no applesauce when I'm done, but there sure is an adorable card!

Again, I used vellum for the mason jar. To me, it's the perfect vehicle for making the mason jars look a bit more real.

Of course, I had to try a mason jar without the vellum, and it's cute too. This time I concentrated on the pears. After you cook them during the canning process, they are lighter in color than when they started, so I made my canned pears with markers, and stamped the raw pears with classic ink pads. I'm pretty tricky!

I love using hemp twine, or linen thread on the jar covers. Again, it just adds that little bit of detail that makes cards so interesting!

Happy stamping!

Mason jar love

You'll be seeing a lot of mason jars for awhile here. That's because I borrowed Perfectly Preserved and Cannery Framelits from a friend. I am in love with this coordinating set! It's perfect for this time of year.

I love using vellum for the mason jars! On this jar, I sponged some Marina Mist on the Crumb Cake card stock underneath the jar hoping it would look like water. I also used vellum for the flowers, with white embossing powder. I love how they turned out!

I sandwiched some Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon between the layers of card stock for some contrast of color.

These cute little flowers were just begging to be gathered up and put into a bouquet! So that's just what I did, gluing them onto Old Olive stems. The background paper was ripped from an old gardening book and I sponged Old Olive and Soft Suede onto it to age and soften it.

I sliced through the mason jar vellum so that the stems looked as if they were inside the jar. Clever, huh?

Happy stamping!