**Giveaway Closed** New Years Thank You Card Blog Hop!

Happy Friday!

Thanks for joining us today for the New Years Thank You Blog Hop! If you have arrived from Jill's blog then you are on the right track. If you would like to start from the beginning then click here. This blog hop is intended to help with ideas for Thank You Cards.  There will be opportunities to win blog candy at each stop and lots of ideas for Thank You cards.  So sit back, and enjoy the hop!

This is my Thank You card.

 

 The lambs are cut from the Country Living cart. They were cut at 3 1/2". The Frame is from the Sentimentals cart and was cut at 4".

The papers are DCWV and Cosmo Cricket.

The sentiment is from the Joyslife.com stamp set, Lots of Pun.

 So no blog party would be complete with out some sort of blog candy!
 I am giving away a set of Peachy Keen, 1 1/8" Happy Lashes, stamps.

This is my very favorite stamp set right now.

All you have to do to be entered to win is:

1. Become a follower, if not already.
2. Leave me a comment on this post.

That's it! I will choose a winner via Random.org on Monday night and announce the winner Tuesday morning. Good Luck!

Your next stop in the hop is Denise.

Thanks so much for hopping along with us today!

Christmas Eve!

It's Christmas Eve! 

I have been running around all day like chicken with my head cut off, trying to get all my last minute things checked off my list! I am glad that it's Christmas Eve because that means that I will be spending all-day with friends and family tomorrow. :)

When I saw this cut on the Jolly Holiday's cart, I thought it would be perfect for a Christmas Eve card.

The papers are DCWV and Jillibean Soup and the sentiment is from here.

 I decided to kept this card really simple so that you wouldn't miss any of the details on the cut.

 His foot prints in the snow make me laugh!

I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas!

Flaunt it Friday Challenge #4

Happy Friday!

Can you believe that Christmas is tomorrow!?! 

Anyway.. on to today's Flaunt it Friday Challenge.  This weeks challenge is to use the turtle from the Create a Critter cart. 

My turtle just happened to find some mistletoe! 

The paper is DCWV and kraft from here, the twine is from The Twinery, and these stamps. The carts I used were Create a Critter, Lacey Labels, and Christmas. I also embossed the turtle shell but I am not sure of the name of the folder, it's a Sizzix folder.  

The kissy face is from the Cheery-O's Face Assortment from Peachy Keen Stamps.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas! See you next week!

Snow Much Fun!

Happy Thursday!

I have a super quick post for you today. It just hit me that I have less then 48 hours to get everything done on my list. Wish me luck!

 The papers are from DCWV and We are Memory Makers. The boy is from the Winter Frolic Cricut cart and the snowflake is from the Pooh and Friends Cricut cart.

I embossed the snowflake with my polka dots embossing folder. The twine is from The Twinery, and the sentiment stamp is from here. I cut the stamp apart so that it would fit on the tag.

His sweet little face is from Peachy Keen Stamps,  Funshine Face Assortment.

I'm loving the bright colors on this card!

 See you back here tomorrow for Flaunt it Friday's Challenge #4!

 

I hope you have wonderful day!

Falalalala Lalalala!

Happy Wednesday!

This post is a little late... it has been raining here in southern California, for four days straight now, and my little house just couldn't take it anymore. I had some flooding in the living room and kitchen this morning. It's mostly just wet floors but it's just one more thing to deal with during this crazy time of year. Hopefully, most of the storm has passed and we will be able to start the long process of drying out.

On to today's card... 

I am kind of sad that we only have a few more days left of Christmas cards. 

The little girl was cut from the Jolly Holiday's cart. The tag is from the Winter Frolic cart.

The papers are DCWV, and Cosmo Cricket. The Embossing was done with the snowflake embossing folder. The twine is from The Twinery and the sentiment stamp is from here.

I used the Cheery-O's Face Assortment set from Peachy Keen Stamps, for her face. This set is quickly becoming my new favorite set. :)

Here's the inside. :)

Don't forget about our (my bestie and I) new challenge, Tacky Tuesday's, you have until January 4th, 2011 to make a card. 

I will see you back here tomorrow with another Christmas card! Only three more until next year!

Tacky Tuesday's Challenege #1

Happy Wednesday! 

I am soooo excited because my bestie and I have decided to start a once a month challenge! 

The Tacky Tuesday's Challenge will be on the third Tuesday of each month. We will choose a "Tacky" cut from a Cricut cart and the challenge will be to make a card that includes the chosen cut and a play on words. The challenge will last for two weeks and then we will choose a winner via random.org. The winner will receive a small gift and a button that they can proudly display on their blog! The main page for the group is on Facebook, we figured that would be the easiest way. All you have to do is log in to Facebook and type in "Tacky Tuesday's Challenge" and the group will come up, all you have to do is join, it's that simple! 

You do not have to have a blog to participate, all you have to do is become a member of the group on Facebook and post a photo of the card that you made! That's it! If you have a blog and want to link back to it, that would be great too! Easy enough?

So lets get started shall we!?!

This months challenge is to create a card with the lettuce cut from the Freshly Picked cart. If your wondering, the lettuce is on page 77 in the booklet.

Here is the 1st "inspiration" card!

o.k.... so how adorable cute is this card!?! Our fabulous friend (and new design team member) Raven made this card today, at a moments notice! Love it!

Below is my card!

 LOL! Cute no?!?

 The papers are DCWV and Jillibean Soup. I printed the sentiment on a piece of card stock and then cut around it to make the banner.

The face is from the Cheery-O's Face Assortment from Peachy Keen stamps!

Fun no?!? 

So now go take a look at my bestie's blog and check out her super cute card! Then head on over to facebook and join our group! We can't wait to see your card!

Off to feed my dogs now... they are glaring at me from the other side of the baby gate.

A Reindeer and Blog Hop Giveaways!

Happy Sunday!

I hope your weekend has been a success! Only 5 more days until Christmas, are you ready?

 I have gotten somethings finished up, but still have quite a bit to do. Oh well, it is what it is, right?

So I took some time yesterday to spend with my bestie. We went shopping for a a couple hours and then did a little crafting. 

This is the card I made. 

  The reindeer is from Jolly Holiday's. He was cut at 4". The scalloped frame behind him is a tag from A Child's Year cart. I sized it on my Gypsy so that I would still have about 3/8" all the way around the card.

The paper is DCWV and Jilliebean Soup's Christmas Collection. The stamp is from here and the ribbon is from Michael's. 

I have been having a lot of fun making Christmas cards this year. I am a little sad that I only have 5 more days to make them.

So lets talk Blog Hop winners... shall we?

So the first winner is for the Flaunt it Friday Blog Hop, they will receive the 1 1/8" Happy Lashes set from Peachy Keen Stamps.

The winner is:

Maribelle!

 

Maribelle 2 weeks ago

I am excited about this new challenge blog! I have place the button on my blog and am hoping to be the winner of the Cricut cartridge. Winning these stamps would be the icing on the cake! I love your snowman card and the noel banner.

The second winner is from the Thank You Gifts Blog Hop, they will also receive a set of the 1 1/8" Happy Lashes stamps from Peachy Keen Stamps.

The winner is:

Raven!

Raven B 6 days ago

Ruthie this is such a great idea. I want to make a bunch now. What a great idea for teachers !!!! HUMMMM thinking thinking now.
Hugs,
Raven

The third winner is from Kathy's Super Secret Surprise Birthday Hop, they will receive the 1 1/8" Princess Faces from Peachy Keen Stamps.

The winner is:

Debby

 

Debby 2 days ago

Love the card and the banner thanks for the inspiration. I might have to get that cart. now.lol
Deb

The fourth and final winner is from the Jingle-Jangle Blog Hop, they will receive the 1 1/8" Happy Lashes stamps from Peachy Keen Stamps.  

The winner is:

Jennifer

Jennifer 1 day ago

I love these! They are easy and perfect to put on the top of gifts. Thank you for making the video tutorial. That always helps, I am a visual learner. ;)

Jen~

CONGRATS LADIES! 

I have sent each of you an email. The sooner you get back to me, the sooner I can get your stamps into the mail!

I want to welcome all my new followers and say THANK YOU to everyone who visits my blog! I wish that I could afford to give everyone a set of stamps!

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Santa Hat Chex Mix!

Happy Saturday!

If you are looking for Kathy's Surprise Birthday Blog Hop click here.

If you are looking for the Jinge-Jangle Blog Party click here.

(I am giving away blog candy for both of the above hops, so if you have time, leave comments on both posts.)

Today I wanted to share a fun Santa Hat Chex mix recipe with you. It's fun because you make Santa hats and add them to the mix. It's really fun and festive looking. This is not my original idea... I saw it in a magazine several years ago and have been making it for the last couple years. 

The blog, Cookies and Cups also posted about this mix, a couple weeks ago.


Kids love it!

Making the Santa hats takes a little time, but the rest of it comes together fairly quickly.

You start with some Bugles and some red chocolate discs. I measure out 2 1/2 cups of Bugles. You melt the chocolate per the instructions and then dip the Bugles in the chocolate and get them nice and coated.

Once coated, they should look something like this...

I place them on wax paper and let them dry.

Once they are dry, I re-heat the red chocolate and pour some white non-perils in a bowl. You take the bugle and dip the bottom into the chocolate and then into the non-perils. This makes the bottom of the Santa hat. Place them back on the wax paper to dry. Then dip the tip of the bugle into the chocolate and attach a small marshmallow to the top. When you are finished, they should look similar to the photo below. 

 Cute aren't they? I have never been a big fan of Bugles myself.... but covered in chocolate, they do taste pretty yummy!

Next you are going to mix together:

3 cups of mini pretzels

1/2 cup of dried cranberries

1 cup peanuts

2 cups Rice Chex cereal

  Mixed all together it should look something like this...

Then take 8oz of white chocolate and melt it per the package instructions. Once melted you are going to take it and pour it over the mix. Then carefully mix the ingredients so that the chocolate evenly coats all of the mix. Then pour it out onto some wax paper to dry.

When the mix is dry, and cool, you can return it to the bowl and add 2 cups M&M's (red and green) and the Santa hats that you made.

 

Mix everything together... be very careful you don't want to break the Santa hats!

 Then place the mix into containers, for gift giving.

Doesn't it look yummy!?! Festive too!

 I like to decorate the containers... here I have added some raffia.

On the top of the container I have added some cute DCWV papers and I used Joy's at Joyslife.com's fabulous All Around Sentiment stamp set for the sentiment.  This stamp set is perfect for gift giving any time during the year!

Pretty cute huh?!?

I'm off to eat some Santa Hat Chex Mix now... I sure hope you try making some! You will be glad that you did. :)

Check back by tomorrow! I will be announcing the winners of all four of my giveaways!

I hope you have a wonderful day!