Christmas 2012

It's Christmas! Whew, I really struggled this year just to get a few projects done on time. Every year DH takes twenty jars of sweet cereal mix to work to share with his co-workers. I decided to go with a penguin theme this year to decorate the jars.

The cut file for these penguins came from a set of candy wrappers from Treasure Box Designs, and I used  Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Four die for the labels. Thank goodness these were super quick and easy! In addition to the penguin, this candy wrapper set included cutfiles for 4 other adorable holiday characters: a gingerbread man, reindeer, snowman, and teddy bear. Maybe I'll do the snowman or reindeer next year.

Though I didn't have much time to do any Christmas crafting, I'm lucky enough to have friends and a mom that did! Mom put together these cute beaded wreath lapel pins for me to share with my friends at work. Thanks Mom, you're the best!

These two very special holiday treat holders were lovingly created by friends Kris and Lorna.

Isn't this chocolate filled Christmas tree from Kris stunningly yummy? Love it! Amazing what people come up with using a bit of cardstock, glue and ribbon. You can find the tutorial by Brenda Quinata at her blog, Qbee's Quest. I know it's a little too late for this year...or maybe not...how about keeping the kids at your Christmas dinner busy by having them make their own?

Once again, Lorna didn't fail to amaze us! This time she brought by these cute chimney boxes filled with goodies for each of us at work. Oh, look! Don't you just love the way she perched a chocolate Santa right on top of the chimney box. So clever!!!

Last year, for the first time in over twenty years, I didn't send out Christmas cards because we were so busy putting together my daughter's wedding invitations. This year, I thought, "It was so nice not having to stress over Christmas cards last year, maybe I won't do them again this year..." Let's face it, when you've done Christmas cards featuring photos of your only child every year for over twenty years, what is there to do when she gets married and moves away?

ANSWER: ...Christmas cards featuring a photo of your DOG!

LOL, I actually did include another photo of all of us together on the inside. For my card, I used the center step card template shared by Sandy Hulsart, Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Four and Labels One dies, and a Sizzix Holly embossing folder to put sixty of these together.

Tomorrow's Christmas Eve, and I still have gifts to wrap...need to get hoppin'! Sending blessings to all for a very Merry Christmas!

Happy "Bird" Day!

Okay, so I have to admit I'm a bit slow catching on to the latest trends. When Angry Birds merchandise hit the markets over a year ago, I didn't even know what they were about. Well I finally got me a smartphone a only few months ago, and downloaded the game...ok, I'm hooked! So when my son in law's birthday rolled around this year, I knew I had to try my first Angry Bird card. Searching the internet for ideas brought up tons of great ideas, but my favorite was the one created by Chris over at Calla Lily Studio. As you see, mine is a full on shameful copy of hers, but I liked her card so much I didn't want to change it up too much. I think the only difference is that Chris used  punches to create her Angry Bird while I created a cutfile in Make the Cut for my card.

Now, check out the fun v-fold pop-up on the inside! This fab template is the work of none other than pop-up master, Carol over at Extreme Cards and Papercrafting. Carol generously shares her template, complete with an easy to follow tutorial on her blog. Thank you, Carol!
Whew, thanks to the creativity and inspiration from both Chris and Carol, my Angry Bird birthday card didn't take too long at all to put together.

Then to add to the fun, I sent my son in law's card off with a box of Angry Bird Gummy candy with some birthday cash tucked inside. Hope he enjoyed it!

Sister Stamps Chinese Zodiac Collection: Release Day!

Today is Release Day for the first two stamps in a series from Sister Stamps new Chinese Zodiac Collection! The cute snake and horse images are available for purchase at many of your favorite craft and scrapbook stores, you'll find them listed on the sidebar over at the Sister Stamps official blog.

For my card today, I chose to use the new Horse stamp from this collection. The thing I really love about these stamps are that they are so versatile...not only can they be used for all your creative New Years projects...they're so darned cute that you'll find yourself wanting to use them year round on many other occasions as well!
As an example, I decided to try a fantasy themed center step card.

Used copics to color the adorable horse in shades of pink, glittering her mane and tail and placed her on a bed of puffy clouds embossed with the Cuttlebug swirls folder...

 

Added a lavendar magical castle cut from the Cricut Once Upon A Princess cartridge in the background, a colorful rainbow and a few stars to complete a fun card perfect for any little girl's birthday.

I gotta admit that I'm not much of a stamper anymore, but I did have fun getting my fingers inky again for this new Sister Stamps release! Thank you, Jenny for allowing me to play along. Looking forward to joining you all again in February to kick off the release of the next two Zodiac animals in this series!