Cookies For Santa Kit and Izzy Wore a Costume!!!

Happy Saturday everyone!

I hope every ones' Saturday was as beautiful as ours. It was absolutely gorgeous here today. The sun was out, it was in the seventies and there was a gentle breeze all day. Izzy got to play outside and we even went to the park for a little while this afternoon. It was just wonderful.

I had a busy day, but didn't really get too much stamping in. I did get a bunch of great ideas and bought the rectangle nestabilities finally. I had to wait for my November budget to kick in. I am still waiting on the final verdict of whether or not my stamps will also double as toys and increase my budget. I don't think it is going well so far.

Well my first and only project for today is actually a few projects all in one. It is what I am calling a Cookies for Santa Kit. I think it would be a lovely gift to give someone who has small children. Inside the bucket is a bag of marshmallows, a tin of hot chocolate, a box of cookies and a recipe card. All the recipient needs is a mug and a plate and they are all ready for Santa.

Isn't it cute. I will describe each individual part separately since different stamps were used for different sections. First though the bucket itself is a dollar spot find from Target. (I just love, love, love that place.) I then cut out a length of white satin ribbon and threaded through some paper ornaments with "Santa" written on them. The ornaments were made with my Cricut machine along with the letters. I used red card stock, pink metallic card stock and Christmas DP. I then added the black brads and some little gingerbread buttons I had. I then stuffed some silver tissue paper in the bottom for all the artifacts to rest on.

Next I made the marshmallow bag. I started off by taking a cellophane bag and stamping the snowflake from Baby It's Cold Outside by MFT stamps all over the bag using stazon ink. I then filled up the bag with marshmallows. To make the tag at the top I cut out a circle of Christmas DP using my nestabilites and cut about a fourth of it off. I then cut out another circle from white card stock and stamped Snowflakes by Penny black in the center. I mounted it on the larger DP circle and left it hanging over the edge. I then added a snowflake charm to the top and folded the flap over to seal it.

For the cookie box. I started off with a plain white candy box and filled it with some delicious cookies. (If I am honest, this really is the most important step!). Next I stamped the image Mimi in Sleigh by Denami Designs on a piece of white card stock and colored her in with my prisma color pencils and some glitter pens. I added a little bit of diamond stickles to her "fur" and then added a little more glitter while it was still wet. I mounted the stamped image on a piece of Christmas DP and then onto a piece of dark Green DP. I stuck the image on the top of the box and tied a dark red ribbon around the outside. I then placed it inside the tin.

The hot chocolate tin was next and was so fun to make. I started off with a round clear lidded tin. I placed a piece of Christmas DP around the tin and then cut a piece of pink metallic card stock to go the in the middle. Before adhering it, I stamped the three mugs from Hot Stuff by MFT stamps on the pink strip in an alternating pattern. I then stamped the plain mug on a piece of Christmas DP along with a red piece of card stock, the polka dot mug on a piece of DP and a green piece of card stock and the crisscross mug on another piece of DP and a fuchsia piece of card stock. I then paper pieced the images all around the pink strip and adhered it to the tin. For the tag, I started off by stamping the sentiment from Baby Its Cold Outside on a piece of white card stock along with the little cup and saucer. I colored the cup and saucer in with my prisma color pencils and added a little liquid applique. I made a tag shape and mounted it on a piece of Christmas DP and a piece of metallic pink card stock. I added a black eyelet and threaded though a pink grossgrain ribbon that I tied it around the lid. I filled a cellophane bag with hot chocolate and placed it inside. I went ahead and printed off the heating instructions for the hot chocolate and placed them on the bottom of the tin. For this part I used my nesties and my Xyron machine.

Last but not least was the recipe card for White Chocolate dipped Oatmeal-Cranberry Cookies. I simply printed off the recipe on my computer and cut it in half. I then mounted it on a piece of DP,\; one side has the ingredients and the other side has the baking instructions. I stamped the cookies using my Cookie Stubbie by Stamps by Judith and added the snowflake charm in the corner. I am telling you, if I were Santa, this is what I would want left out for me.

Now on to Izzy and her costume saga. Yesterday afternoon I was talking to my neighbor and she asked me to bring Izzy over to show them her costume. They didn't celebrate Halloween this year because it fell on the Sabbath. I told her I definitely would if I could get her to wear it. So that night after it had gotten dark, I asked Izzy if she wanted to wear her jacket. (The bee costume is basically a jacket and pants). She said yes and I pulled if out of the closet. I had one arm in before she realized what it was and started to grump. I went ahead and forged through getting it all the way zipped before she really started to cry. That is when the miracle happened. The doorbell rang and there were trick-or-treaters there. Izzy got so distracted by them oohhing and ahhing over her that she forgot she was even wearing the silly thing. Well the stinker wore it the rest of the night and even asked to wear it again today. Ahh to have children. And here she is.

Well thanks for waiting up for me to post tonight. I know it is pretty late. Thanks again for all the wonderful comments. I really appreciate them. And as a bonus here is the recipe for the Craisin cookies.

White Chocolate-Dipped Oatmeal-Cranberry Cookies

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups Craisins

1 1/2 cups pecan pieces

1 1/4 cups uncooked quick cooking oats

12 oz white chocolate baking bars--coarsely chopped

3 Tablespoons shortening

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugars, beating well. Add egg and vanilla, beating until blended. Combine flour & next 3 ingredients; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Stir in cranberries, pecans, and oats. Drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls 2 " apart onto lightly greased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 9 to 11 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Microwave white chocolate and shortening in a medium-size microwave safe bowl on high 1 minute or until chocolate melts stirring once or twice. Dip 1/2 of each cookie into melted chocolate, letting excess drip back into bowl. Place dipped cookies on wax paper; let stand until firm.

I can attest to how delicious these cookies are!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Haunted House and Cupcake Delights!

Happy Tuesday everybody!

The house is officially sided now. They just delivered the new shutters and put them all up. They look so good! They are my favorite color, green. I really think they set the house off. I can hardly wait for Jason to get home and see them.

Yesterday and today have been crazy busy. I made 18 broom (brown bag) treat bags for the kids coming to our party on Saturday and 62 mini treat bags for the party. I also finished up the main body of Izzy's costume, don't worry I will get tons of pictures, and made two challenge cards for today. I am exhausted. I can't wait for the party to be over, but I am also dreading it because it has been so much fun to plan.

Izzy has discovered that feeding and/or watching Tuxy eat is the best thing in the whole world. Poor Tuxy can no longer eat without a little girl hovering anywhere from 1 to 3 inches away from his face. I wouldn't be able to eat, but Tuxy doesn't seem to mind. I also think that the two of them are scheming together. Today I put Tuxy in the bathroom while the guy was here to install the shutters and I look up ten minutes later and he is running around again. Izzy had let him out of the bathroom. She has figured out that all she has to do is push on the door and it will open. This of course means dogs escaping and no privacy in the bathroom for Mommy.

Now on to the stamping. It felt so good to be stamping again today. I really missed it yesterday! My first card is a Halloween card that was created for this week's Freaky Friday Challenge over at Sunflower Studios. You are supposed to create a card using black, dark orange, olive green and purple as the main colors. It was so much fun as those are the colors that are in my Halloween papers.

Isn't it creepy and cute all wrapped in one? The idea for this card actually came from a class at The Inkspot that I was unable to attend. :( I fell in love with the stamp and the pop up card and asked Julie there to hold back a stamp for me if there was any extras and there were. Yeah!!! I started this card off by stamping the House by Imaginations! on two pieces of Halloween DP and a piece of dark purple card stock. I then paper pieced the house together. I used my black marker to highlight different moldings on the house. I then attempted to make a pop up card. I have not perfected the construction yet, but when I do I will post the tutorial on my blog. I made the box part out of purple card stock and covered it with DP. I then added the tree buttons and the ghost button to the house and punched out a black bat with my Martha Stewart punch. I finished the card off by printing off the sentiment and adding it to the front with some metal hardware and brads. I added a punched out bat and pumpkin to either side. It really turned out well, and it was super fun to make!

The second card I made was for today's color challenge over at SCS to use pink, olive green and brown. I knew that I immediately wanted to create something that was yummy and dug out Mimi's Bake Shoppe by DeNami Designs. Can you believe I haven't inked it up yet?

I started off by stamping Mimi on a piece of whisper white and coloring her in with my prisma color pencils. I then adhered her to a piece of DP. I cut out a piece of brown card stock to resemble a window frame and adhered it to the top. I then cut out another rectangular piece of brown card stock and adhered a piece of pale blue card stock behind it. I added a brad and some steps (green card stock) to the left to make it look like a door to a shop. I stamped the sentiment "delish" from Merry Muffins by Eclectic Paperie. I then stamped the second sentiment from the same set on a piece of whisper white and mounted it on a piece of DP. I threaded through a piece of black ribbon and attached it to the brad/doorknob. I wanted it to look like a sign hanging from the door. I then cut out a fence from whisper white and popped it off the window. The finishing touch was to punch some DP with my scalloped edge punch, draw lines and pop it off the top to make it look like an awning. Don't you just want to go inside and get something to eat? Ohhh, I am hungry.

Well this is the end for me today. Thanks as always for stopping by and leaving comments. I enjoy every one!

Breaking the Monotony!

Happy Wednesday!

Another beautiful day here. Izzy was pretty much outside all day. We went to the park with the neighbor's kids and had a really good time. Izzy discovered that her favorite activity at the park is going down the slide. Mommy discovered that her least favorite activity at the park is going down the slide. Oh my goodness, I almost didn't have to work out today because I lifted her so many times. Where is Daddy when you need him. Oh yeah at work.

I got a ton done today for our Halloween party. I have all the invitations colored and now I just need to cut them out and assemble them. The party is a little over a month away so they need to go out pretty soon. I also made two more door prizes. I will be showing those later in the week. I am completely exhausted. It is a good thing Tracy is coming over tomorrow to help me. We are going to try to knock out all the invitations. Hopefully we can have them in the mail by Monday. Keep your fingers crossed.

Since I have been exclusively working with Halloween lately, I decided to post a card I made a few weeks ago. I actually made three of this card. One for Tracy, one for my mother-in-law and one for my mom. The sewing machine broke on the one for my mom, wouldn't you know it, and I had to finish sewing by hand. I think my sister was sending me bad vibes. She is always trying to weasel her way into the favorite daughter position (I of course hold the monopoly on that one, but there is no reason to burst her bubble). I wanted to make thank you cards for them to let them know how much I appreciated them going to stamping classes with me. They are all so supportive of my addiction and even go with me to learn more about it. Sorry about the picture quality, I am still playing with the camera to find out the best settings for getting the clearest pictures.

For this card I created a gate fold card. I used maroon paper as the card base and then zigzag stitched some striped paper I had in my scrap box. I then stamped Scrapbook Girls by Denami Designs and colored them in using my stampin' write markers so they resembled the three of us (they of course look exactly like the three of us: thin and gorgeous) Next I mounted them on a piece of orange card stock and scalloped the edges. I then used some bright blue ribbon around the card and added some fuchsia rhinestone stickers in the four corners. I think it turned out really cute and was much prettier in person.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Please come again.

It is Officially Autumn Here in the Lou and Izzy Pictures!

Good Sunday evening everyone!

Sorry I was unable to post yesterday. I was busy finishing up some door prizes for our Halloween party and hangin' out with my husband and daughter. It was such a nice day but a little warm; it was in the nineties and super humid. We even considered getting in the pool. What a difference a day makes. It started raining about four in the morning and didn't stop until noon. Buy then the pool was overflowing and we couldn't pump the water out because the electricity was off. If finally came back on a couple of hours later. However it was only sixty-eight degrees today and really windy. You never know what is going to happen from day to day here!

The card I wanted to share today is a card I made for my husband's grandparents. They are two of the most wonderful, caring and nurturing people you will ever meet. Every time I see Jason's grandmother I feel like hugging her. She is so cute!!!! I am so glad that Izzy is able to have them in her life. So back to the card. I was completely inspired by some punches I recently bought at the Target Dollar Spot (love, love, love that place!). They had a whole bunch of scrapbooking items in the bins and I found an apple punch, a pumpkin punch and an oak leaf punch. I knew I want to use them for a fall leaf card so I created this:

I first stamped Mimi's Pumpkin Patch by Denami on a sheet of Whisper White card stock. I then colored her in using my prisma color pencils. I stamped her again and cut her out to pop her off the surface of the card. Next I used my new oak leaf punch to create a border on a piece of old olive card stock. I mounted this on a piece of pumpkin pie card stock and attached the whole lot to the card. I punched holes in all four corners and used some mini pumpkin brads I bought at Archiver's. It is so cute. I can't wait till they receive it!

Now what you have all been waiting for ... Izzy pictures!

This picture was taken last week on one of those beautiful end of Summer days. She was having such a great time running around the backyard and carrying her noodle around. Her favorite thing though was running up to mommy just when she was about to take the picture. I couldn't get her to stop putting her cute little mug up against the lens. lol.

This picture Jason took last weekend. Izzy was sitting in Jason's garden next to some of the largest and most beautiful zinnias you have ever seen. (I had to ask Jason what they were). Isn't she so sweet?

I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Thanks for stopping by!

Got Bees?

Happy Friday!

I am posting a little bit late today. Izzy and I had an extremely busy day. We ran to Joann's to look at Halloween costume patterns and I think I finally settled on one that I would like to make for her. Then we went to Toys 'R Us and bought Izzy some new toys. I found this really cute and cheap kids stroller for baby dolls and Izzy will hardly let it out of her hands. She is pushing it all over the house, she was even running over our dog Tuxy! So here I am posting in the evening instead of the afternoon.

Today I wanted to share a card I made for my dad. My dad is one of those guys who knows everything. I mean he literally does. I am constantly calling up asking him questions and advice about our house, Izzy and about my life in general. He always seems to have an answer and they are always logical and supportive. I am such a Daddy's girl!

So here is the back story for my project today. (There is always a back story with me.) Well, my parents came up to visit us last month and my dad was hanging out on the back deck and he saw a wasps nest under the eave of our house. He pointed it out to me and told me I probably should get rid of them. I told Dad that I would let Jason know and I went on a search for the wasp spray. When I came back out, my dad asked me if I knew what to do if I didn't have any spray. I of course had no idea so he told me to spray some gasoline on them. Gas will kill them right away. I thought this was a little strange, but it made sense. Since we had wasp killer though, we went ahead and used it.

So here is where the card comes in. Over Labor Day weekend Jason and I started power washing our decks to get them ready for staining. Jason was washing the wall of the gazebo when he must have sprayed a yellow jackets' nest that was behind the wall. The yellow jackets started coming out of the floorboards and one of them stung Jason. I was telling my dad about it the next day and he said well you could always pour gasoline on them. (Of course I would never do this seeing as how are deck is made of WOOD). But then the funniest part of the story is that he told me not to light it on fire to get rid of them the gas alone will do it. I can not resist giving my dad a hard time so I called him the next day and told him that I took his advice and poured gasoline all over the decks and since I couldn't remember the rest of what he said I went ahead and set it on fire. Bees and Decks all taken care of. My dad thought it was funny so I sent a card to commemorate it. The inside asks "Got Bees?"

I made the card out of red card stock and a piece of yellow card stock I had lying around and a sheet of whisper white card stock from Stampin' Up. The lettering I did with a sharpie and used chipboard letters as a template. The bees are a stamp by Denami called curly bee and are so cute! I colored them in using my stampin' write markers and then added a touch of glitter to them.

I love you Daddy!!

Thanks for stopping by today and looking at my blog. Have a great weekend!