Quick Christmas Craft

I don't like giving money at holidays and birthday - I think it's really impersonal. I spend a lot of time thinking about gifts to make or give people I care about - but money is really just boring.

What do you give the kid that LOVES money? Well, money of course. My challenge this year was how to package up money for my nephew - and I thought about it for at least a month.

This is what I came up with.

At first he wasn't sure how to get the money out -- or how I got the money in there! I think he's figured it out by now! You could do the same thing with a gift card - or tiny gift that would fit in the slot in the center. He loved the idea, and he can put a couple of favorite pictures in there now that the money is gone.

Hope you had a great Christmas!! I told my husband that next year we are going to volunteer at a soup kitchen on Christmas eve or day - so we can give back to the community to those less fortunate - and for our son to realize what a great life he has. So we can all realize how blessed we are.

Anyway, moving right along....now that the hubbub of Christmas is over - the tree and all decorations down -- it's time to think about the New Year. Resolutions. Plans. Wishes. All that we want to accomplish in the year....oh, my head hurts!

Well, thanks for stopping by - HAPPY NEW year!

Merry Christmas

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.

Norman Vincent Peale

Or, you could use the Dali lens on your hipstamatic app to make everything look soft and beautiful.

It's such a busy time of the year - and this one for me seems like it's been busier than ever! Appointments, and days spend crafting, cooking and shopping - it's more than this home body can handle.

I've made 4 batches of nut brittle, a batch of special chocolate chip cookies, 4 batches of truffles, petit fours and crafted several special presents that I can't share until after tomorrow - I guess that explains my lack of posts here!

A heartfelt thanks for your visits and comments, I'm wishing you all a safe and wonderful holiday season.

Yuletide Greetings - WINNER!!

Congratulations KAREN -- you're the winner of one of these winter white ornaments!! Send me your address and I'll drop it in the mail to you the next time I venture out!

Karen said... Wow - how cool! A chance to win one of these beauties? Waa Hoo! They really are stunning.

Thanks! Cheers Karen

Thank you all for your lovely comments and for visiting my blog!

Thanks again for stopping by - wish I could stay and chat but I've got to get back to work! Enjoy your day, it's freezing here! brrrrrrrr!

Behind Schedule

Do you have your Christmas tree up yet? We don't.

Actually, we don't usually put our tree up until the weekend before Christmas, so we'll be getting one this weekend and getting it up. We did decorate the outside of the house last weekend and get some decorations out here and there.....but that's it.

I've been so busy - that today I finally stopped and thought - OMG - 2011 is in a couple of weeks. That means taxes, resolutions and all that fun stuff to deal with. URGH. At least it only comes once a year!

I've been busy working on classes and projects this week so I haven't made anything to share with you - but I do want to remind you that I'll be drawing a winner of the felt ornament tomorrow night - so it you haven't posted a comment on that post you'll want to do that SOON.

Well, back to work. My to-do list for today is still VERY long -- and the day is almost over! Thanks for stopping by, enjoy your day!

Yuletide Greetings - A GIVE AWAY!

I've shared quite a few of these wool felt ornaments that I've made this season here on my blog - and I thought what better way to really share than to have a give-away and give one of them away! Plus, it's been a long time since I had a give away on my blog so I decided it was time.

I spent a little bit of time this morning in my studio before getting my day started making these little lovelies to use as package decorations on my gifts this year. I'll have to make some more now that I'm giving one of them away, but that's ok since I love making them.

Leave a comment for me on this post telling me what you're favorite holiday tradition is -- and I'll pick a winner on Wednesday -- that's December 15th!

Thanks for stopping by - Good LUCK!

Edited to Add: Make sure you leave your email address or a way for me to contact you if you are a winner!

Studio Projects!

Do you ever have a project that you want to do around the house -- and you prop the supplies up so that every time you walk by you see them...hoping that you can get to your project when you have a free minute?

I do that. A lot more than I care to admit!

Sometimes though, you just have to take the horse by the reins and get it done. Or you have a friend coming over and you don't want her to see the stuff sitting there -- where it was -- the last time she visited - so you tackle the project just hours before she's supposed to arrive.

That's what happened to me on this project. I had this old quilt - I remember the exact moment I saw it at a yard sale in 1991. It was sitting in an old baby crib - alone and neglected. I paid $8.00 for it and used it all the time -- it was definitely love at first sight, at least for me it was! That was almost 20 years ago, my poor old quilt has definitely seen some better days and has been sitting in the closet since we moved here. That is until I put her on a cafe rod in my window to see what she would look like as a valance.

I'm pretty happy that I decided to pull her out of the closet and make her into some home decor items for my studio -- she's looking as lovely to me today as she did way back then when I bought her.

After assessing what I needed - and if I had enough - my favorite little yard sale find is now a cushion cover for the wicker chair that used to be my Grandmothers -- my little dog loves to lay in this chair with me in the studio.... the quilt over the back of the chair is so I can cover her up. Yes, she's spoiled - but the chair looks great.

I also had enough to make a couple of valances to hide the ugly shade hardware on my windows. This was easy. I measured the width of the window and decided how long I wanted the valance to be and cut the quilt 2" bigger on the width and 4" longer on the length. I hemmed the sides with a quick visit to my sewing machine and made a sleeve for a cafe curtain rod to slip in and I was done and they were ready to hang.

I will say this though – I think it looks a lot better in person!

I also made a little curtain to hide my file cabinet and the two ugly plastic bins under the counter. I hate those plastic bins - but until I find something else I have to use them.

I even have enough left to make a cover for my sewing machine and hopefully a slip cover for the back of my office chair. But those two projects will have to wait for another day cause I've got a lot of other projects calling my name. Do you have an old quilt that you can re-purpose into home decor - like pillows or slip covers. Your old, neglected quilt will be so happy have a new use!

Thanks for stopping by....Enjoy the rest of your day!

They are Cleaning out the CrAfT Closet !!

Cleaning Out the Craft Closet—Post to our Blog for a Chance to Get FREE STUFF!

As you can imagine with all our great brands, the shelves of at the EK Success craft closet are sagging with holiday products that are left over from all the project-making we've done for them. So they are going to do a big giveaway:

Three (3) boxes of FREE STUFF will go to the three of you who post to the EK Success Brand Buzz blog with a favorite holiday memory that most touches our hearts (or our funny bones)!

There’s a short leash on this little blog-posting contest: post anytime between now and midnight on December 8th, 2010—that’s tomorrow !! and we’ll pick the winners on the 9th. Watch your email to see if you’re a winner (that’s the only contact information we will have for you), then if you’re one of the lucky ones, send us your mailing address and we’ll get your box shipped out right away so you can enjoy using the products this Christmas. So get busy and share a special memory on this EK Success blog post for a chance to win BIG!!

A Year in the Life

One of the things I really LOVE about working with EK Success Brands is that I get to work on some really cool projects. Like the PBS Craft show Crafting at the Spotted Canary. I got to make projects THAT.WERE.FEATURED on the show - AND to be crafting with Joy MacDonnell on two episodes -- was so exciting. She is so cool and fun too – LOVE her! Great things always happen when Joy is around!

Anyway, from that experience I was asked to create a video called A Year in the Life -- which was unveiled YESTERDAY at the Spotted Canary ! It was a lot of work – but I didn’t have to do it all by myself – my team mates helped me a LOT with pages and step-outs. And my wonderful husband was the cinematographer -- even my little guy helped out in the production of the video. His request for payment – a trip to Gelato Fiasco. My husband's request for payment -- Eggplant Rolitini - which I haven't made yet.

So, I bet you are wondering where you can find this FREE On-Demand Class. Go to the Spotted Canary Website, here and register. They’ll send you a password with all the details you’ll need to get started.

Oh, but I’m not done yet!! The lovely elves behind the scenes have asked me to host a Sketch Challenge in the Challenge Forum at the Spotted Canary – it’s open to everyone that is a registered user on the site.

Here’s how you can enter:

1. Read the official contest rules
2. Join the flock
3. Register for our FREE on-demand class and download the three layout sketches offered through the class
4. Post a project using one of the sketches To qualify, project must utilize one of the three sketches as its inspiration. Please list the sketch used in your description or product listing.
5. Tell us about it: Visit the contest Forum thread and post a comment with a link to your project!
6. Contest ends January 31, 2011.

What You Can Win:

An amazing PRIZE Package from the sponsors of the Spotted Canary!!

Phew, I’ve been busting at the seams lately trying not to spill the beans….it feels so GREAT to share with you! THANKS for stopping by, I hope to see you over at the Spotted Canary!

It SNoWed Here !!

I know I said that it was going to snow over the weekend - but we didn't really have any accumulation at all. Today we had snow - and it accumulated -- even if it was only a couple inches - accumulation or not --- I wasn't wanting it. I didn't get the snowtires put on my car yet - and I had things to do around town....but it worked out and I got out and got home with no problems. THANK you God!

I got together with my crafty pal Kelley today and we spent some quality time crafting. I got some new cream colored felt and was itching to make some more felt ornaments -- thinking I'll list them in my Etsy shoppe.

They were so much fun to make -- and my Spellbinders Circle Dies came to the rescue. I am addicted to Spellbinders, really I am! I'm always thinking of new things to make with them.

Don't you love the vintage jingle bells, another lovely find from Brimfield last year!

Thanks for stopping by - hope it's not snowy and frightful where you are!

Ins and Outs of Artist Trading Cards

My newest class at My Creative Classroom, the Ins and Outs of Artist Trading Cards -- starts next week -- December 10th. There's still time, so head on over to My Creative Classroom to register!

We will start this 4 week, 8 lesson long class with a tutorial on ATC's and a slide show showing some of the creative possibilities you can incorporate into an Artist Trading Card.

After the presentation the first week we will begin our lesson with a little album to store our trading cards. Some free images, an ATC digital stamp and quotes to add to your ATC's will be available for download through out the course.

Following weeks will continue to feature 2 lessons per week - released on Tuesdays and Fridays with each lesson focusing on a different technique - you'll have a completed ATC at the end of each lesson. At the end of the course you'll have quite a few Artist Trading Cards to trade with your friends.

Note: ATC's shown here are not the examples we'll be making during the course.

A few of the techniques we'll touch on include image transfers, hand and machine sewing, painting on stamped images and more!

THANKS for stopping by, I hope to see you in my class at MCC, if you're not into ATC's I've got some new classes coming in the Spring and Winter sessions that might be exactly what you are looking for! Enjoy your weekend.

Crazy Horse

I've been working like a crazy horse this week finishing up my last lesson for Spellbinders Projects over at My Creative Classroom - and getting the first class of 2011 ready for enrollment. I can hardly believe that IT. IS. ALMOST. 2011. Where has the dang time gone? It seems like just yesterday it was 2001 and my boy was just a baby.

I've got my Winter/Spring Line-up of classes at MCC all planned out - and the new classes I'll begin developing next week are really exciting.

A little Mixed Media - and a LOT of Spellbinders. ALOT, and I'm really excited about the Spellbinders classes.

In the meantime, I've got to get back to work preparing the classrooms, developing the lessons and getting my classrooms ready for LOTS of learning!

thanks for stopping by, hope you are having a great week and are crossing things off your Holiday Lists and making sure to be a little bit naughty and a whole lot nice!