Be Jolly

Good afternoon my friends! I have a cute little gifty to share with you today. Last week, I had my book club holiday party and we decided to do an ornament exchange. I found this cute little cupcake Santa ornament (and wanted to keep him for myself!) and made a fun little package to put him in. I started with a tiny little lunch bag that I bought in a package of 16 at Michael's. I embossed the bag with a polka dotted embossing folder and then added a Paper Smooches snowman that I colored with my Copics. The snowflake is an old Spellbinders die. I kept the package closed with a tiny clothespin and ribbon. Both the packaging and the ornament were a hit! (BTW- I received a beautiful church building ornament that plays Silent Night!)

So at our party we got to talking about the best places to hide your children's unwrapped Christmas gifts. My one friend hides hers in the respective kids' closet! She said their closet top shelves have blankets and out of season clothing piled up there and she just stuffs the gifts in between the blankets! Genius!! What kid is going to look in their own closet for their gifts?!

Thanks for stopping by!

stamps: Warm Hearts, Christmas Sampler (paper Smooches) 

ink: memento tuxedo black (Tsukineko)

paper: riding hood red, whisper white, baja breeze, night of navy (SU!)

accessories: tiny lunch bag (Michael's); square, scallop square nestabilities, 2010 snowflake pendant die (Spellbinders); word window punch, button, glitter (SU!); Copic sketch markers; bakers twine (Divine Twine); blue ruffle edge ribbon (May Arts); tiny clothespin (Canvas Corp)

A Holiday Treat

This month our i {heart} papers design team challenge was focused on food! Now who doesn't like food? I run a small Daycare business out of my home and like to share some of my holiday treats with my daycare families. This year I made a buffalo snack mix that I found on Pinterest and modified a little to fit our taste! I packaged up some for each of my families in a printed cellophane bag and then made a tag for them. Each tag uses the Paper Smooches set Swanky Snowdudes! I colored the snowdudes with my Copics and then added various trims and DP to each of them to make them fun! (Click on the picture for a closer view!) Super simple and quick! Here's the recipe for my snack mix too!

Buffalo Snack Mix (adapted from this recipe)

4 cups Rice Chex cereal

4 cups Wheat Chex cereal

3 cups Cheez-its

3 cups tiny twist pretzels

1 stick butter

1 packet dry ranch dressing mix

3 Tbs Frank's Red Hot Wings sauce

2 tsp celery seed

Mix all of the cereal, cheez-its and pretzels together in a large microwave safe bowl, set aside. In another bowl, melt butter then add dry ranch dressing mix, Frank's hot sauce and celery seed. Mix well and then pour over cereal mixture and stir to coat evenly. Microwave on high for 4 minutes stopping to stir at the 2 minute mark. Spread on paper towels (or paper bag like I did) to cool. Store in air tight container.

Don't forget about our 12 days of Christmas sale going on over at i {heart} papers! Now through Christmas Eve, each day a new sale item will be posted at a steal of a price. Sale items valid until sold out or until Christmas Day, whichever comes first! (Sorry, no restocks or rainchecks!) Inventory is low on some items but be sure to join us each day for the IHP 12 Days of Christmas! Today's deal is all washi tape is 35% off!

Okay- now check out the rest of the team's fabulous projects!

• December's guest designer, Laurie Willison


• Carolyn


• Deb


• Gretchen


• Judy


• Lori


• Stephanie


• Taylor


• Tracy


• Kate

Thanks for stopping by!!

You Rock!

Hello friends! I'm back with another one of the cards I made for my kids' for their great academic success. This one is for my oldest son. I found this guitar stamp from an old Unity KOTM set and made it look as masculine as I could! The DP is from Doodlebug Design Boys Only collection. I colored my guitar with my Copics and added a sentiment from Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler set that fit perfectly. I'm just loving this ribbon by SU! it is so soft and easy to manipulate!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I've been busy making holiday treats and have a fun project to share with you tomorrow for our i {heart} papers design team challenge!

stamps: Sentiment Sampler (Paper Smooches); guitar (Unity Oct 2009 KOTM)

ink: memento tuxedo black (Tsukineko)

paper: Copic blending cardstock (X-Press); Boys Only DP (Doodlebug Design); night of navy, tangerine tango card stock (SU!)

accessories: copic sketch markers; ribbon (SU!)

12 Days Until Christmas!

Eeep! Only 12 more days?! How can that be? I have to finish my shopping (for those parents of mine that have everything and need nothing!), do all of my wrapping and start my baking! AACKK!!

But, to brighten up these last few days before Christmas, i {heart} papers is having a sale!  Beginning 12/13 and running up until Christmas, each day a new sale item will be posted at a steal of a price. Sale items valid until sold out or until Christmas Day, whichever comes first! (Sorry, no restocks or rainchecks!) Join us each day for the IHP 12 Days of Christmas!  Today's deal is stickles and liquid pearls for only $1!! Check the IHP blog or Facebook page each day for the daily deal.

I'm sure I can find a few minutes this afternoon to do a bit of online shopping for myself! {wink}

Thanks for stopping by!

Dude!

Happy Friday! Well, I did it! I resisted the urge to use some new supplies for a card I needed to make and used an older set from SU! along with the remnants of a 12x12 paper pack from last year! (Hooray for me!) This card is for my son who just completed his first trimester of middle school. A scary time for anyone and yet his report card shows his stellar academic success! We are so proud of him and a moment like this deserves some recognition! (All of our kids did awesome this trimester and I will be sharing the rest of their cards with you too!) I used this week's MOJO Monday sketch for my layout and made it my own ;)

Thanks for stopping by!

stamps: So Cool (SU!)

ink: night of navy (SU!)

paper: night of navy, very vanilla, real red (SU!); Little Boy DP (Echo Park)

accessories: scallop border punch (Fiskars); red ribbon (Michael's); circle nestabilities (Spellbinders); star punches (SU!); silver baubles (Sierra Pacific Crafts)

Jingle Snowman

Hello my friends! Just a few days ago I was telling you how I need to use some of my older stamps and papers more often and what do you think happened the very next day? Yep- I received a box of new goodies from i {heart} papers! As you can image, my neglectful behavior continued and I dove right into those new supplies! Here I've used a snowman from Paper Smooches and colored him up with my Copics.  The DP is from the Winter Fun collection by Carta Bella. I added some glitter, a burlap bow with a tiny jingle  bell and a bit of dry embossing to put it all together! My layout is this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch by Karen Giron.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

stamps: Freezy Fellas (Paper Smooches)

ink: memento tuxedo black (Tsukineko)
paper: baja breeze, crumb cake, whisper white (SU!); Winter Fun DP (Carta Bella)
accessories: woven burlap trim (May Arts); natural twine string (Creative Impressions); jingle bell (Michael's); circle nestabilities (Spellbinders); Copic sketch markers; glitter (SU!); striped embossing folder (Lifestyle Crafts)

Sending Thoughts

Hello my friends! Most of the time when I am crafting, I reach for my newest stamps, papers and dies to create with. As soon as I receive a new package from i {heart} papers- my older stuff gets pushed onto a shelf and forgotten. I have oodles of 6x6 paper pads with only a few pages missing, stamps from sets that have never touched ink and dies that are still in their sealed packages! I'm feeling guilty for this neglectful behavior and decided to dig through my older stamps and pick a set to play with today. I am still working on building up my card stash so here is another sympathy card.

My image and sentiment are from SU!'s Thoughts & Prayers set and I stamped them in memento rich cocoa ink. I added some tiny blue pearls to my tree and a Sparkler Medallion to the satin bow for interest. I sponged some frayed burlap distress ink on all of the paper edges for a more somber look. The layout is the 11/21/12 sketch challenge on SCS!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

stamps: Thoughts & Prayers (SU!)

ink: memento rich cocoa (Tsukineko); frayed burlap distress ink (Ranger)

paper: sahara sand, early espresso (SU!); Oliver Lost & Found (MME)

accessories: blue pearls (Kaiser Craft); Sparkler Medallion (Webster's Pages); satin ribbon (Michael's)

Watt's Up?!

I know, I know, you've heard it a million times already but can you believe it's already December?!! We've gotten most of our Christmas shopping done and we put up the tree this weekend so now I just have my holiday treats to bake and giftys to make. 

I wasn't quite in the holiday mood this morning so I decided to keep working on my stash of everyday cards. (Besides, it's sunny and 55 degrees here with NO SNOW so it's not feeling quite like December just yet!) For this one I used Jen's deconstructed sketch, some Technique Tuesday stamps and Everyday Eclectic DP by Echo Park. I colored my light bulb with my Copics and added some glitter for sparkle.  I'm loving this stamp set so I'm sure you will see a lot more of it!

stamps: Bright Idea (Technique Tuesday)

ink: memento tuxedo black (Tsukineko)

paper: melon mambo (SU!); Copic blending card stock (X-Press); Every Eclectic DP (Echo Park)

accessories: corner rounder (CM); Copic sketch markers; hot pink gems (Kaiser Craft); bubblegum twine (Doodlebug); button (?)