Trick or Treat

It is my turn to post over at Craft-Dee BowZ but I had to share it here with you too. Donna gave us a theme of Halloween and a non card at that!

I know you have seen a few Halloween cards from me but really we don’t do Halloween. Yes, our kids do dress up but for a Harvest party and they are not allowed to dress up as anything scary so you see a lot of princesses, army guys, puppy dogs, cotton candy (my middle went as last year), paper doll (my youngest last year). Any ways I digress….Back to this challenge Donna gave us.

Halloween… non card…. what to do? I like to send goodies to work for hubby’s coworkers so why not decorate a container that he could put on his desk with some kind of treat in it for them?

Took some of the ribbon Donna sent us and made a triple loop bow by doubling up my ribbons. Instead of just laying the ends of the ribbon around the container, I decided to twist the two ribbons together.

  Using a spider web die, I cut out the spider web and attached it just by the corner. If you look closely you will see a small little spider (sticker) on the web. Printed out a pumpkin digi image from Paper Pretties that I colored and added in the corner. Attached the little sign to the container so everyone would know they could have a treat.

Now what to fill the treat container with? How about Pumpkin Oreo Muddy Buddies? Oh my gosh! I didn't think I was gonna have any left to put in the mini baggies as this stuff is just that good! Tied each baggie up with some ribbon that I had (keeping with the black/orange color theme).

Close up of the Pumpkin Oreo Muddy Buddies.

But what you are really saying is “Amber!! Stop teasing us and give us the recipe!!” I can’t take credit for the recipe as I got it from Something Swanky blog which I found via Pinterest.

Pumpkin Oreo Muddy Buddies

Ingredients

• 2 cups Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses
• 7 cups Chex Cereal
• 1 cup crumbled Oreos
• 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  
  Instructions

1. In large microwave safe bowl, heat the Hershey Kisses for 45 seconds or until melted. Stir until smooth. Add the cereal to the bowl, a few cups at a time, stirring gently and coating the cereal as you go.
2. Add the Oreos to the bowl, and stir gently to coat.
3. Place the powdered sugar in a gallon sized zip top bag. Spoon the coated cereal mixture into the bag. Seal the bag, and shake to coat the cereal mixture.
4. Serve immediately or keep sealed in bag, and store for 3-4 days
   
   
   .Don’t say I didn’t warn you on how good this is! 
   
   
           Thanks for stopping by!
   
                      Amber
   
   
   

Last day of school and a mini field trip

Today marks the last day of school for my kids. So of course I had to whip up some last minute teacher gifts. I just wasn’t feeling it this year as I have given them things throughout the year and volunteer in their classrooms every week. But I knew I had to give them something or I would feel bad!

So I went with the reliable covered legal pads. Used School Notes from Our Craft Lounge, cutting the images out and paper piecing the backpack. Made my own lined paper using the lined stamp from the set.

So my kids may be getting out today but Preschool got out last week so I have been babysitting all week long. My oldest only had one exam today so instead of running to school, dropping her off, running home and turning around in an hour to pick her up, I decided to go to my mom’s. So the twins and I had a mini field trip.

I was taking them to see the llamas but the first thing out of the little boy’s mouth was “look, kangaroos!” “ummm no, those are llamas.”  “llamas” “yes” “horsies!” “no, llamas!”  Then one llama made a funny noise and the little boy shouts “rhinoceros!”  “no! Llamas!!” And last he called them camels!  I give up!

Here are some pictures from our little outing:

Then we ran to a friend’s house who has horses so they got to see horses too.

Now school is over, kids are home.. let summer begin! And what a summer it will be as we are having friends from South Africa coming over in 3 weeks to spend 3 weeks with us. We have lots of fun things planned so I’m sure I’ll have tons of fun pictures to share!

         Thanks for stopping by!

                     Amber

OCL is Pinning it!

It is Friday! And what does that mean? A new Our Craft Lounge challenge has been issued!

How fun is that? A reason to be on Pinterest all day long! Okay, not really as am sure we all have tons of ideas pinned that we have just been dying to recreate. Now is your chance!

As you know, this week was Teacher Appreciation week. I had a few things pinned to pick from but went with this: http://pinterest.com/pin/162833342747051286/.

I changed it just a tad by making a frame tag. I used OCL School Notes. I stamped the pencils to make a frame and colored them in with copics. I took an xacto knife and cut out the inside of the framed area. Stamped an apple, colored it with copics and attached it with a pop dot. I was going to write the saying myself but made it more personal by having my kids write them. It meant so much to the kindergarten teacher to have it hand written by her student. It showed us both how far she has come since that first day of school. I even managed to find an orange cup as orange is the teacher’s favorite color!

My son did one for his teacher but I am showing the one we also gave the aide he has in his class that is mainly for a handicapped child but still helps out with the class when the teacher needs her to. There is lemonade drink pouches in the cup, hence the aide being in “”.

We only have 2 1/2 weeks of school left so now I have to start working teacher gifts! Stay tuned for those.

You have until 11:59pm Thursday, May 17th to enter.   Participate as many times as you like!   A random winner will be selected and posted on The Lounge at the beginning of next month. Here are the rules: use any stamps that you wish – get BONUS POINTS when you use OCL stamps!  Link to your card/project at the bottom of The Lounge post using the link tool provided – **be sure to link DIRECTLY to your challenge card – not a general blog or gallery link & add the appropriate photo.  Use the challenge as your basis – do whatever inspires you, but please base it on the challenge. If you upload to SCS, please use the Keyword OCL117.  We can’t wait to see what you CREATE!

      
           Thanks for stopping by!

                   Amber

It’s a dog day

It’s time for another Pretties Wednesday Challenge over on the Paper Pretties Blog. This week our challenge is to use Ribbon or Twine on our cards.

I used Dog-Gone Birthday for my card. Colored with copics and used a corner punch to make all my corners round. I went with twine on my card. Threaded it through the buttons on the side.



I also have a project that my 15 yr old and 9 yr old made that I wanted to share with you. They are addicted to Pinterest. I mean really, who isn’t? After seeing a few things that we have pinned for our to do list, they started looking around the house with new eyes and found this:



There is a window on there, daughter just took a picture from the back side. It’s a really nice sturdy box that I had saved incase I came up with of a way to alter it but dog gone it, my kids beat me to it!

Here is what they did to it:



She painted the top green and my son (9yrs) painted the lid. Then came that question: “Do you have any dog stamps we could use, Mom?”  Now really that is a silly question for those of you who know me. I mean of course I have to have some dogs stamps, right?  And of course Dog-Gone Birthday was sitting out because of the above card so guess what she used? She used white ink and placed all four stamps on the acrylic block and stamped away.

Now if only she had added twine or ribbon for a handle she could have entered it into the Paper Pretties Challenge! She may not have entered but you still can and here is how to:

How to Enter: If you would like to play along with us, all you have to do is create a card/project using the above challenge and upload it to your blog and/or to your SCS Gallery using the keyword PWC191.

Don’t forget to include a link to your card on the Paper Pretties Blog, so everyone can see it too. You don’t have to use Paper Pretties stamps to play, but of course if you have them we would love to see you use them. One random participant will receive a Paper Pretties Stamps set … see the Paper Pretties Blog for more details.


         

            Thanks for stopping by!

                       Amber

Creative Cuts & More blog hop

                         

I was asked to be a guest designer for Creative Cuts & More using the new Gingerbread House Album Chipboard Kit. 

If you have not come here from Kristine, you will not want to miss what the Design team has in store for you. Head back to the Die Cut Diva Blog. That is where all of the action starts!

Once you are finished HOPPING along the Blog Hop, you will have an opportunity to win one of the WONDERFUL Gingerbread House Album Chipboard Kit worth $12.99.

In order to win,you must...

1. HOP through AND comment on each blog - please make sure the Blog Hop is LIVE, THEN come go to the Creative Cuts and More Blog and let us know you did so!

2. For another chance, follow the Die Cut Diva http://die-cut-diva.blogspot.com/

3. For another chance, become a Fan on Facebook, HERE  http://www.facebook.com/creativecutsandmore

4. For another chance, spread the word about our Blog Hop on your blog!

So here are my pages. Sorry they don’t have pictures on them. I have pictures from last year of the kids making a gingerbread house but wouldn’t you believe it, I’m out of ink and hubby hasn’t had time to print them off at work!

Front page. Still deciding on a title for album. Used Helmar Crackle mediums on the house. Rubbed it with distress inks and used MuddPuddles on the house.



Close up of the Snow MuddPuddles and Christmas Lights Sea Glass also by Mudd Puddles.





The little gingerbreads are from Our Craft Lounge Gingerbread Fun set. Colored them with copics.


Christmas Mudd Puddles on the icicle. Peppermint candies from Our Craft Lounge Gingerbread Fun set.

Used the mouth, buttons and squiggly lines from Our Craft Lounge’s Gingerbread Fun set.









Close up of the MuddPuddles on the roof and icicles.





Your next stop on the hop is  Nora Anne.

 

     Thanks for sticking with me!

                   Amber

Snowmen, Cookies n Coffee

So today is Day 2 of sneaks from Paper and Such. And let me tell you, I LOVE the set we are sneaking today, Snow Folks. 

I found a fun idea over at A Southern Fairytale that I knew would be perfect for Snow Folks. Only draw back… I had to make my famous Dipped Gingersnaps (you can find the recipe here) that I don’t start making till AFTER Thanksgiving! So I set out and made 8 dozen cookies just so I could use one little one on my project! (of course you don’t hear the family complaining). 

This project is perfect for teachers, friends, librarians or even the mailman and doesn’t have to be just at Christmas time either!

I stamped the snowflakes in silver metallic. Colored the snowman with copics and cut him out completely, attached him using only zapdots. Also used the bow easy for my bow.  Assemble the entire thing and you have a cookie hanger for your  bottle of Frappuccino (mint mocha limited edition).


Measurements are as follows: hanging piece cut 8.5 x 4 cardstock/design paper, score at 4 inches and 8 inches, cut circle on the side that is just 4 inches. Make circle big enough for what ever bottle you are using. (I used a coluzzle to cut mine.)  Front piece cut 5.5 x 4 cardstock/design paper, score at 1/2 inch, 4 1/2 in & 5 inches. Cut half circle or shape in front. Decorate to your liking. Attach to hanging piece. Don’t forget to add your goody inside it. I stapled the bag to the hanger then finished taping on the front. For pictures and steps, please see A Southern Fairytale.

Don’t forget the top of your lid too! Used a circle spellbinder to cut my paper.



Want to give it to a non-drinking coffee friend? What about a bottle of milk? (okay, so this would look better on a smaller bottle but this is the only size of milk I had.)

Or what about putting it on a bottle flavored creamer to be used with coffee or hot chocolate? (if you don’t know what they drink)

I’m sure the list could go on and on that this cute little cookie holder could go on but I’ll stop for now. Besides, the other 7.98 dz cookies are calling me!

       Thanks for stopping by!

                     Amber

To a sweet friend

Welcome to Paper Pretties release blog hop! Hopefully you just came from Lisa Silver’s blog. If not, start back at the Paper Pretties’ blog.

So for the release hop, I am using Life is Sweet. I had this idea to try and make the bubblegum machine completely see through so I stamped the image on vellum twice and once again on cardstock. Colored the entire image with copics and cut it out including cutting off the “globe” part of the machine (sorry, I didn’t even think to take pictures of these steps.) so the gum is attached to the image only by the piece you put the money in.

Using Helmar Vellum Adhesive Spray, I sprayed the vellum and attached them together making sure the colored bubble gum was in  between the layers. Added the top of the machine onto the vellum that I had colored and cut out. Smooches is on the machine.


I covered a mini notepad that had the pen with it. Added a scalloped edge, faux stitching. Machine is attached with zapdots for dimension.

Your next stop is Jennifer Greco.  Enjoy!

 

          Thanks for stopping by!

                        Amber

Hope your day is a Hoot

So this week over at Paper Pretties, the challenge is to make anything but a card. For a few minutes I had a panic attack wondering what I would make then in searching for something else, I came across a long skinny notepad and the light bulb turned on!

I used Give a Hoot and colored it with copics. Cut it out completely and attached it to the notepad which I had covered in misc. design paper and Nikki Sivils “Henry’s Brilliance” design paper on the bottom. On the lined section of the paper I stamped the sentiment. Used some rick rack to make the closing tie.

I used orange as my main focal color as my littlest started Kindergarten on Monday and she gave this to her teacher who loves orange. Here is my baby on her first day:

and then with her big brother who is in 3rd grade.


 
            Thanks for stopping by!

                        Amber

Teacher Gifts

This is my second post for the day so please scroll down to see other one.

So this entire week is Teacher Appreciation Week. It was a struggle for me this year because I came down with a nasty head cold and really didn’t feel like creating.

Also it is Friday which means another challenge over at The Lounge.  Paper Piecing!

Since mid January, my son’s 2nd grade class has had a student teacher, Miss Castle. This week was her last week of teaching so the class threw her a farewell party yesterday. You would have thought it was Christmas with as much gifts she got… tons of books, stickers, personalized lunch bag… all stuff for her to use when she becomes a teacher and has her own class. So on that note.. this is what I made for her:

Acrylic Post-It Note holder. I used School Notes by Our Craft Lounge and paper pieced the images below.. only colored in the face and hands of the kid and the “wood” showing on the pencils. 



Even the apples are paper pieced (except for the stems which I colored in). 123, ABC n School NOTES were stamped with distress inks. Even the writing lines are a stamp.

But I couldn’t forget his main teacher, Mrs.Phillabaum, either! And I couldn’t give Miss Castle just a post-it note holder! (yeah, I like to spoil my teachers.)  So I made them both a set of personalized cards. I used Coastal Wishes also from Our Craft Lounge. Colored with Prismacolor pencils and blended with odorless mineral spirits. The wording was done on the computer.

They both got each scene 3 times for a total of 6 cards.



Packaged together with twine.

Hope you remembered to take the time to appreciate your teachers. Of course it doesn’t have to be just this week but all year long!

Also don’t forget to join us over at The Lounge for the challenge… would love to see your paper piecing.

National Scrapbook Day ~ it's TOMORROW!!!!

Are you ready?  Are you going to scrapbook???  Make sure you put your page on the OCL Blog so we can ohhhhh and ahhhhh over it!  Here are all the details for our blog hop:

There will be a special blog post tomorrow on the OCL Blog.  At the bottom of that post, you will be able to LINK your blog or public gallery post!  All you have to do is create a scrapbook page (any size or shape) OR a card/project that features a photo. Your project must also feature OCL stamps.

If you leave your link, our Design Team will vote to select ONE WINNER from all the entries & the winner will receive a fabulous OCL  stamp set.  In addition, everyone who leaves a comment on the OCL Blog, will be entered into a random drawing where we will select ONE MORE  WINNER who will also receive a stamp set.  All comments and links provided must be posted  before midnight (PT) on Sunday, May 8^th to be eligible to WIN!  Winners will be posted on Monday, May 9^th on the OCL Blog.   

We can’t wait to see what you CREATE!

         Thanks for stopping by!

                     Amber