lagniappe: noun

a small gift given a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase
( pronunciation )
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random musings for the year 2012...

 

why can't the blogger spell check recognize certain words:

journaling
bling
scrapbooking ( thanks Judy )

Why do I always find mistakes after I..
post a picture of something I created
or after I published a blog post
 

If your going to spam me..

can't your English/grammar be better?

Having or Being?
I have been trying to downsize for 3 years since my imposed divorce, and each year I have succeeded in having less unnecessary things. It's a slow process and for the life of me I wonder why I have such trouble letting go. I am no where near to being a hoarder, I just have too much stuff now that I am living in an apartment ( having gone from a 4,000 square foot house )...I had to store my "extra stuff" in a rented garage and have been working on getting rid of it. Of course my plan had to be out of it in a year, but that hasn't happened...a dent yes, but no where near to having it gone. When I saw this show which was about a hoarder and the explanation about how our society has developed this hoarding habit really made me think twice...and hopefully it will make me work a little bit harder to clear out that garage.
 It's also the sociology major in me that gets excited over studies like this:

 

 

Also I will still be using words to define my blog posts but for 2013 I am going to be using the

 "word of the day"

program and hopefully we will learn something new. I hope you enjoy it too.

Have you ever received a lagniappe from a store before?

I have, but didn't know it was called a lagniappe.
It's also kind of fun to say :0
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Happy New Year to all my friends!

and what kind of friend would I be if I didn't let you know about an awesome give away from
 Really Reasonable Ribbon.
 If you have followed my blog, you know that I use their ribbon often and I love it. They are celebrating their 3 Year Anniversary with a give away!
They are giving away 3 gift certificates!
There will be one $50 gift certificate and two $25 gift certificates which will be given to three random winners.

What a great way to bring in the New Year, eh?

skin of my teeth: phrase

Narrowly; barely

  

The phrase first appears in English in the Geneva Bible, 1560, in Job 19:20, which provides a literal translation of the original Hebrew:

"I haue escaped with the skinne of my tethe."

Teeth don't have skin, of course, so the writer may have been alluding to the teeth's surface or simply to a notional minute measure - something that might now be referred to, with less poetic imagery than the biblical version, as 'as small as the hairs on a gnat's bollock' ( testicles )

  

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Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2012

 

Whew, just got the last tag in by the skin of my teeth. I wasn't even sure I would make it, but make it I did! I just couldn't make it the same way TH did though, but I like it none the less.

I didn't make the extra tag, I am all out of Christmas. lol

 

also entering this in:

Little Scrap Pieces - Fun Friday "Winter" Challenge ( I wish we would get some snow here! )
Divas by Design - Challenge 66 Anything Goes
Simon Says - Anything Goes
 

 

Ranger - Broken China, Symphony Tissue Tape

stickles - Orange Peel, Stardust

Cricut - Winter Wonderland cartridge, p. 69 ( Brrrr )

Stretch Your Imagination cartridge, p. 80 ( tag )

Stampabilities - silver ink

S.E.I - Holiday Cheer stickers ( snowman )

Martha Stewart - Winter Snows glitter

Reminisce - white pen

K and Co. - pearl

American Crafts - Holiday House plastic snowflakes

Faber Castell - PITT pen

Glisten Gloss - white tinsel

 

Boxing Day: noun

Celebrated on Dec. 26 in Great Britain and commonwealth nations like Canada and Australia, this day is when the affluent in society express gratitude by exchanging gifts with the less fortunate. Gifts can consist of food, money or other household items

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I kept reading about Boxing Day yesterday and then ran across this cutie:

 

lord of misrule: noun

a master of Christmas revels in England especially in the 15th and 16th centuries

"Christmas before Victoria was a wild affair, in which the fun was presided over by the Lord of Misrule, and it was full of lewd and naughty pranks—usually strictly for the grown-ups."

 

( maybe this was their 50 Shades of Grey? ) lol 

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Ladies from WOYWW and lords of misrule...
 

Sometimes you amaze and wow me.
Sometimes you touch my heart in more ways than you might ever know.
Sometimes I realize how lucky I am to know you.

  Christmas has become a lonely time for me and while I'll not bore you with the details to my pity party, there were a few of you that just made my day yesterday! So this is what is on my desk, courtesy of:
 

Dwain Gaudet

Julia Stratford-Wright

Sherry Ellison

and

Judy McCarthy

I have enjoyed looking over each item and am so impressed with your craftsmanship!

  

I saved all their packages as they came in the mail and opened them on Christmas morning so that I would have gifts to unwrap. Y'all are wonderful, thoughtful ladies who I am honored to have as a friend. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!  

 

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Mojo Monday - #273
 

 

 

My Mind's Eye - snowflake paper

DCWV - Shimmer Stack

Cricut - Winter Woodland cartridge, p. 32

hand stitching, french knots

rub on sentiment, ribbon - misc.

EK Success - dimensional sticker ( orange dot )

Reminisce - white pen

American Craft - Marvy marker

Helmar's 450 ( for ribbon )

Aleene's Tacky Glue ( for everything else )

Elvis Floppy-Feet

 

my elf name

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Oh my goodness, it must be me! lol

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 ::innocennt look::

 

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I am Elvis Floppy-Feet!

 Sign your comment with your elf name!

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I just want to say thank you, every one of you, for visiting my blog, leaving me such lovely comments and for letting me into your lives!

I wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas!

 

albeit: conjunction

even though

 

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Pause Dream Enjoy - #51 December Celebrations
Frosted Designs - 12th Day of Christmas

12 brads

 

OK, so I whined some on the FD blog...12 brads...at one time?? LOL I use brads less often than buttons but more than eyelets..I think I tossed all my eyelets in the trash years ago actually ;p But I did have one more card to make and thinking of using my brads as a Christmas tree design did help me to use up some green brads, so it was all good in the end. Since I was hand delivering this one, I didn't have to worry about the brads making my card too bulky or too heavy.

 

Creative Imaginations - pattern paper

Fiskars - snow flake embossing plate

Big Shot

Really Reasonable Ribbon

DCWV - Shimmer-licious Stack

Helmars - 450, tape runner

brads - misc.

Copic marker ( to color small square brad brown for tree trunk )

 

And I did complete all 12 days of Christmas albeit with whining towards the end but I did enjoy the challenges and it helped me to get my Christmas cards completed so even if I don't win anything I still had fun...lol

 

 here's a review:

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I can happily say that I survived the Millennium and now the Mayans!

Bring it on 2013!

antsy: adjective

nervous

 

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Color me antsy with whatever was going to be for the number 11, I mean 11 of anything is a lot! And yes, you can split your projects up but I thought it would be more fun to use the larger number groups on my mini album ( the 10 buttons worked out so well  figured I'd see if I could keep it going! )...

and 11 turned out to be good.

 

Frosted Designs  - On the 11th Day Of Christmas

 

11 banner flags

 

I made the banner out of discontinued fabric samples that a friend had given me over a year ago, I swear I'll have fabric left over for the rest of my life! Especially if I use extreme small bits like I did for the banner.

 

Of course I had to make it 3 times harder by not only making the tiniest banner ever but also by sewing glass beads in between each piece....50 Shades of difficulty!

Bow Easy tool - ( made in the USA! )

Cricut - French Manor cartridge, p. 38, 1" ( used CCR to remove inside cuts )

Aleene's Tacky Glue

glass beads - recycled from a pillow case

Tim Holtz Idealogy Grunge paper ( for bird )

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We have finished 3 weeks of Handmaking the Holidays and I hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed doing it for you.

You can visit Chrissy's blog for all the links if you missed any along the way.

Shank: noun

a part of an object by which it can be attached

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Frosted Designs - On the 10th Day of Christmas

 

10 buttons!

...oh my! I have to admit I am not a major button person, and the thought of working 10 buttons on one project made me cringe...sweat..almost cry! But I pulled out a mini album that I have struggling with and found 10 ways to add buttons to it. I am kinda pleased with how it turned out too, I think the buttons made a nice addition to it....

maybe I should rethink the whole button issue I have....hmmm?

 

5 buttons on the end page by the lace

2 shaped buttons - the flower pot and the bird house ( removed the shank from the bird house button )

3 buttons on the butterfly

 

Helmars Liquid Scrap Dots ( to even out the birdhouse because of the little bit of plastic left behind when I removed the shank )

Hemar - tape ( for ribbon )

Prima - flower...( when adding buttons, add a flower too, lol...ok, in reality it was to cover up bad stitching )

Really Reasonable Ribbon ( to help hide a sentiment that was crooked)

wonderland: noun

 an imaginary place of delicate beauty or magical charm

 

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Frosted Designs - On the 9th Day of Christmas

9 pearls or sparkles

 

I used 9 rhinestones, it was a perfect fit, 8 around the edges of the metal snowflake and one layered over the white brad snowflake.

 

Really Reasonable Ribbon

Fiskars - snowflake embossing folder

Big Shot

Faber Castell - Pitt Pen

snowflakes and rhinestones from stash

Words around outside perimeter of card are lyrics from Winter Wonderland  written in 1934 by Felix Bernard (music) and Richard B. Smith (lyricist). Through the decades it has been recorded by over 150 different artists. I'd say it is a pretty popular song, one of my favorites anyway :)

also entered in:

Paper Playtime: Challenge #91 Winter Fun
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Heather made the cutest felt Christmas tree stacker for her little boy Henry, who is just too cute btw and from the expression on his face, he is really enjoying his new Christmas toy!

 

repugnant: adjective

 exciting distaste or aversion

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Eating candy out of your socks does sound disgusting, give to Maxine to take a tradition and make it sound repugnant! lol

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Frosted Designs - On the 8th Day of Christmas

( 8 brands/products )
 

 

DCWV - The Homespun Stack

Fancy Pants - Lace Wraps

Heidi Swap - bling

Hambly Screen Prints - overlay

Ranger's stickles - Star Dust, Black Diamond

Sharpie - black marker

Offray - ric rac, bow

Robin's Creative Cottage - Snowman's Prayer Stamps
 

My sentiment is stamped onto the bottom third of a journaling box over lay that I had cut off for this card. Waste not want not....gawd, I sound like my mother! lol

 

 Do you have a saying that runs around in your head that your mother use to say?
 I'd love to hear it!
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Yesterday I showed some gift wrapping ideas, and today Chrissy shows how to make some water color gift tags...I just LOVE the picture of her husband and kiddies making them..I think the littlest has a future as an artist!

 

 

Poinsettia: noun

Poinsettias, the iconic red-and-green Christmas plants, have the botanical name Euphorbia pulcherrima, meaning "very beautiful." The native Mexican plant grows as a perennial shrub in nature, but is best known in the U.S. as a holiday houseplant. What many people consider the plant's red flowers are really modified leaves, or bracts. The actual flowers are the small yellow cyathia in the center of the red bracts.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's the last week of our Handmaking the Holidays and it's crunch time for everyone to get their gifts wrapped up, which means it's my turn to make sure that everyone is inspired to do some creative gift wrapping! Here are some Pinterest inspired ideas:

 

How about re-cycling some old sweaters for a cozy wrapping?

 

Or use up all your odds and ends of ribbons past and create an eclectic wrapping? I personally do this every couple of years, it cleans out the Christmas ribbon stash that way, and you don't need to add a bow either! ( no link provided )

For all the yarn enthusiasts, how about making some big fluffy pom poms?



 

And for the bakers out there, include a cookie to adorn the tops of your presents! And instead of pine needles, how about a sprig of rosemary or thyme? ( no link provided )

 

I hope some of these ideas will get you motivated to be a little creative this season! 

( I have discovered something I really hate, and that's Pinners who don't provide a link or who do not link a project directly but link the whole blog!! That's so frustrating and such a turn off for me, I don't even go looking for the posted project, which is what they think they will get you to do, but I leave their blog immediately..is it just me?
...am I Pinterst blog Grinch? )

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And Ranger is having their own gift wrapping contest!!

Ranger Gift Wrap Contest

 

Ranger products: 

Stickles - Holly, and Star Dust ( used Holly to outline the existing pattern on the box and used Star Dust to embellish the Poinsettia leaves and the thread of the button )
and
Really Reasonable Ribbon #62 Anything Goes & Ribbon Theme
also
Simon Says Stamp & Show - Gift-spiration

 

 

 

other:

 

Jolee's bling

Really Reasonable Ribbon
 Hot Glue Gun ( to secure the ribbon closure )
Velcro ( to make the decorated box easy to open and close )
Martha Stewart lace die cut tag ( doily ...to cover the mistake I made with the glue gun! )
Me and My Big Ideas - fabric paper ( covered the top and bottom of box )
poinsettia leaves ( recycled from old Christmas arrangement )
Fancy Pants - button
box - ( re-cycled )

 

This will be my final gift box made for the Art MoB, so far, including this one, I sold all but 3, you can see the others I created here. I am always learning new things since I began selling and I thought that my boxes would be bought mainly by men, as they are notorious for not gift wrapping, but no, they have all been bought by females...who would've thunk that...not me anyway :)



Mixed Media Monday: noun

a fun time together with friends and to get creative
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Simon Says Stamp Challenge - What's Your Favorite? ( Tool, stamp, product )

 

I love, love, LOVE pens and markers! I mean, if I was stranded on an island ( you've seen this asked before I am sure ) and had to choose what crafting item I would want, it would be pens/markers. I figure that if I didn't have paper, I could draw on myself and sea shells, lol I'd find SOMETHING to draw on!

 

So on this card that I made for a Christmas card swap for the Mixed Media Mondays with Tracy Weinzapfel, I used my Faber Castell Pitt Pens to draw the cartoon shapes, my Bruynzeel and Faber Castell water color pencils, and my American Craft Marvy Marker. Another favorite product that I love to accent with is Ranger's stickles, and here, Rudolph's nose get the treatment!

 This is more of a mixed media card that I created especially for Tracy....she...errr....kinda likes this guy so I thought I'd make her a "special" card. I printed his picture off from the internet and then colored in his uniform with my Renae Lingren pen, cut out a Santa hat and embellished the trim with Ranger's Frosted Lace stickles, out lined everything with my Faber Castell Pitt Pens. The doodling along the edges of the card are a combination of American Craft Marvy markers, and the Faber Castell Pitt Pen.

When I was a little girl I use to read comic books and funny papers and dreamed of being a cartoonist like Charles Shultz and although I never achieved that famous status...ok...not even vaguely close to famous at all status....I still enjoy creating cartoons and if they bring a smile to someones face, then my unknown status as an obscure cartoonist is alright with me!

 

What did you want to be when you were a kid?

schmooze: verb

 

 

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Frosted Designs - On the 7th Day of Christmas

7 sparkly snowflakes
Pause Dream Enjoy Challenge #50 Snow
Little Scrap Pieces - Challenge #21 I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

I'd like to take a momment and schmooze with you...I loooooove shaped cards, I do, I do! lol I love seeing them, making them, thinking about them...if I was Dr. Seuss, I'd write a poem about them. They are fun to hold, fun to open and the best fun is in creating them!

 I hope that in the picture below you can see the snowflakes on the acetate better.

DCWV - Shimmer Stack ( still my favorite! )
Cricut - Doodlecharms cartridge, p. 84,( stretched in Cricut Craft Room to a 4x6" shape )
Reminisce - Snow Globe Rub-Ons ( snowflakes )
Ranger - stickles, Frosted Lace ( small accents on snowflakes )
snowman sticker, ribbon, holly leaves, acetate - misc
Pebbles - rub on sentiment ( placed snowflake rub ons onto acetate window )
American Craft - Slick Writer ( outline of shimmer Globe )
Faber Castell - Pitt Pen, Gelatos ( used Gelato's to color base card stock, Pit pen for holly leaf outline )
Helmars 450 ( to adhere bow )
Helmars Tape Runner  ( to adhere ribbon )
Aleene's Tacky Glue
Craft-T chalks ( to add shading for Holly leaves )
 

Methuselah: noun

 an ancestor of Noah held to have lived 969 years

 

( sometimes I get these interesting tid bits when I look up a word such as this one: "Methuselah is currently in the bottom 30% of lookups on Merriam-Webster.com"....well, I still use it, does that mean I'm almost as old as Methuselah? )....no snickering out there!

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This is the end of week 3 for Handmaking the Holidays, ::whew::...got everything made? Well, if you're like me, probably not then! lol So if you need some ideas...well, we have them! You can go to Chrissy's blog for all the links beginning at week 1 and for 12 Last Minute Gifts to Make! Relax and make yourself a cup of hot tea and browse through them and get motivated!

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Frosted Designs - On the 6th Day of Christmas

6 Washi Tapes Strips

( I used 6 strips of Tim Holtz idea-ology Tissue Tape, Symphony for my background )

 

 

Martha Stewart, die cut lace tags ( or a doily as us "common" people would say )

Autumn Leaves, Stampology- Talking in Circles stamp ( old as Methuselah but still good to go )

StazOn ink

DCWV, Shimmer Stack ( still my favorite stack )

Really Reasonable Ribbon  



mimic: transitive verb

to imitate closely

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Frosted Designs - On the 5th Day of Christmas

5 Gold items

( I used 3 gold stars, 1 gold ribbon, and gold embossing )

plus a gold cord,gold stickles and a gold marker :)
and
Perfect Sentiments Challenge: Anything Goes with Christmas

 

 

My Mind's Eye, Flirty "Lil Girl" pattern paper ( love the embossed glitter on this paper! )

Stampabilities, gold ink

gold embossing powder - misc.

Pebbles - Happy Holidays Brown rub-on sentiment ( traced over with gold pen )

Hambly, Journaling Bits over lay ( trimmed off and hole punched to mimic torn paper )

sequin stars - misc.

Really Reasonable Ribbon, gold ribbon

Ranger's, Golden Rod stickles ( used on the V cut of the ribbon to keep it from fraying and imitates the trim )

Sakura, Gelly Roll Pen ( outlined base card, faux "ribbon", and sentiment )

clear rhinestones - misc. ( placed on the corner tips of the stars to cover the hole used for sewing )

Patina, needlepoint cording

hole punch - ( used to create torn paper look on the over lay )

Aleene's Tacky Glue

 

My card was inspired by Becky Fleck's PageMaps sketch and entered in the

 Flourishes Card Sketch Contest

 

 

motif: noun

a single or repeated design or color
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Hi to all my lovely WOYWW friends out there in blogger land!

I am still busy, busy, BUSY, as I am sure all of you are these days. It never seems to end, does it? Of course! Decorating is FINALLY finished, Christmas cards are almost completed, they should all be in the mail tomorrow! yay! BTW, thank you again to everyone that sent me a card, So instead of my desk here is a video of my card display!

*You can also see my Santa village against the windows complete with snowflakes I have dangling down and on the dining room table ( hanging head in shame, for they have been on my table for 6 months!! lol ) is my collection of Charles Chips memorabilia which still have not found their way to a shelf ( mainly cause I keep forgetting to buy one! ) And if you want to know about my childhood and why Charles Chips is important to me, you can go here. *

 

 

And this is the card that I sent out to my WOYWW friends, I am pretty sure everyone has received theirs by now, so it should be safe to show! If not...close your eyes! lol

 

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As you can see, my little stacked trees have been a popular motif for me this year ;) These are the ones being sent to family, and since they never come to my blog,( or if they do, they never leave me a comment, how rude, huh? ) it's safe to show them.

 

 I ran the background paper through my Big Shot with the Fiskars snowflake embossing plate, then layered 4 different strips of pattern paper all inked with brown ink to create my Christmas tree. A little twine and some star sequins and voila, done!

Frosted Designs - On the Fourth Day of Christmas

challenge to use 4 different patterned papers

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It's also week 3 of our Handmaking the Holidays!

 

I kicked off the week with a photo gift ball ornament which you can see here, and next up is Melissa. She made some canvas photos's for a gift for her brother and they look awesome! I hope you stop by and check it out!

ensemble: noun

a complete costume of harmonizing or complementary clothing and accessories

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Frosted Designs - On the Third Day of Christmas

3 mists/inks/paints

 

I used 3 mists:

Tattered Angels, Midnight Blue, and Pearl

Ranger's Dylusions, Vibrant Turquoise

 

I first sprayed the background with Midnight Blue, then Vibrant Turquoise followed by a nice coating of Pearl. The backdrop has a lot of nice shimmer to it.

( when will I learn that Dylusions are so strong, they over power other colors?? )

Next, I applied:

Me & My Big Ideas - Glitter snowflake rub ons adding a tiny rhinestone in the center of each snowflake

 

( I can always see mistakes better in a photograph, the snowflake on the left needs to be touched down! )

 

I took a piece of scrap white paper, tore the top edge and then hand stitched around the snowy ground finishing it off with a rub-on sentiment from American Traditional Designs.

 

Here is the finished card complete with a beautiful reindeer set in a snowy white scene.

Cricut - Winter Woodland cartridge

 

also entering this in:

Perfect Sentiments Let it Snow Challenge 

 

With some extra paper left over I made 2 more cards for the Art MoB with these snowman stickers from my stash that I discovered, had matching ensembles with the background! lol

I love to embellish stickers, you will see a pom pom adhered to the snow hat, rhinestones on top of the buttons, Ranger's stickles added to their carrot noses and even another sticker added ( the holly on the stove pipe hat also with rhinestones added for the berries )

 

 

batting: noun

layers or sheets of raw cotton or wool or of synthetic fibrous material used for lining quilts or for stuffing or packaging

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Welcome to week 3 of Handmaking the Holidays!

I hope you have been enjoying all the wonderful projects that Chrissy, Melissa and Heather have been creating for you :) I know I have!

 I have been making wrapped boxes for the Art MoB, they are doing pretty well...3 of the 6 below have sold. The heart box, gold snowflake box, and the butterfly box.

 

 They all have Velcro closures so who ever buys them just has to open and then close it back up and they have a pretty box for gift giving.

( Baby powder is used on the underneath of the holly embellishment to keep it from sticking to the box )

 

 

I have also made an ornament box ( it sold too ) which is my "tutorial" for today. The ornament I purchased is called a photo ball ornament. I got it last year from Walmart after Christmas so I could get it cheap . After gluing snow paper to the insert, I placed 2 trees directly onto the paper and the third tree is pop dotted out. Then I used glue dots to hold the reindeer in place. Placed "snow" left over from last years Santa village in and sealed it up with Aleene's Tacky Glue.

This is the front.

 

 

The back of the ornament is filled with batting to hide the "gift" inside.

( The little stand is a paper roll cut and covered with paper )

You can see the stuffing here a little bit better. Cut 3 squares and lay together and then trim into a mound shape which fits the inside curve of the ornament. The top 2 layers are glued together.

 

 

Cricut - Winter Woodland (deer)

 

Entering my ornament gift ball in:

 

Anything But a Card - Challenge 8 Celebrating the Light or Seasonal Holiday