Be-lated Christmas Treats

As you saw from the last post, I just ran out of time for Christmas this year. I had the day off yesterday, though, and had purchased all the supplies to make the candy coated oreos that everyone so loved at Halloween when I made them and decided that they'll like them just as much now as they would have before Christmas, so I made them yesterday. I had already made the cute tags at the beginning of the month and had cut out tons of little bags with my sizzix, but putting them together would have taken forever, so I'll save them for another time. I just used zip lock bags, folded them, taped them, tied a ribbon around them and stuck the tag on top. They're for my co-workers who didn't even realize I made those time consuming coffins on Halloween, so a plastic bag will still look cool to them LOL. Anyway, the cute stamps and sentiments are from PTI. Inks are SU, Copics, and Spica glitter pens. The ribbon was from JoAnns, I bought it after Christmas years ago on crazy clearance, and never got around to using it.

More Yarn

As you may have noticed, I haven't been posting lately... well, its because I haven't been making cards. In fact, I didn't even send out Christmas cards, and boy did people notice! (I was surprised). And of course my hubby said "its the biggest holiday of the year and you don't send out cards?" Oh well, it was the day before Christmas eve when I finally had time to sit down and do it and it was just so overwhelming, I decided not to. Anyway, to keep myself busy I've been knitting up a storm! I have now made 4 scarves and am working on the 5th. The one for my mom is another one of the potato chip scarves I posted before, and the one for my dad is my first cable knit that also included purling, so I was impressed with my skills ;)

My parents modeling their Christmas presents. My dad wore his even inside while he was here!

This braid on the front is a cable stitch, it really turns out looking so neat and is not very difficult to accomplish.

Mom's "falling leaves" potato chip scarf. Her favorite colors are those of the fall, and I think the variegated yarn turned out awesome.

This is the original green one I made and had my mom take back to my sister-in-law for Christmas. When you roll it up, it ends up looking like a huge flower!! I thought that was such a neat way to give it. (Phillip thought it looked like a cabbage, but thats still neat, lol).

I'm still working on 3 more scarves (2 late Christmas gifts, one birthday) but I am going to try to get some more card making in between, too. I'd like my new years resolution to be to post on this blog at least once a week. Hope you all had a very merry Christmas!

Christmas for the Troops

A friend asked me to make a special card for the deployed father of one of the gymnastics girls she coaches. It took me awhile to find time to do it, but I think that it turned out really nice. It may not be the MOST masculine card you've ever seen, but I made sure to stick with more manly colors. Anyway, I hope that it finds him safe, and brightens up his Christmas, as I know how hard it is to have a deployed loved one over the holidays.

Happy "birdie" day

So for my dad's birthday this year, I wanted to make him a special card. He loves to golf, and I had received a swap similar to this at Stampin' Up Convention this summer, so I decided to use that idea, but change it a little to make it mine. I loved the idea for the golf balls. I just cut 3 circles with one of my SU punches, then ran them through the Big Shot using a SU Sizzix embossing folder, and then used the side you don't normally use to make it look like the dents on a golf ball. So fun :) All papers and ribbons and stamps on this card are SU. My dad really liked it, by the way :)

Happily Ever Challenged #12

So I saw this really cool challenge where you are supposed to take something from your pantry and make a card that was inspired by the item. It was fun!! I had several items that I was deciding between, but I finally ended up with Curry sauce because I loved the colors on the jar! I made this card for my friend, Dena, for going on the LSS bus trip with me a few weeks ago. It was a blast!! We went to 4 different stamp stores on a bus and got discounts, snacks, prizes, a goodie bag...I loved it! Thanks again, Dena, for going with me :)

I got this challenge from this neat blog: http://www.happilyevercrafter.com/2010/10/happily-ever-challenged-12-from-kitchen.html which is a blog I found through my friend Suzanne :) Now you all can try the challenge, too!

The papers are all from SU. The embossing folder is a SU Sizzix embossing folder. I used Nestabilities for the neat shape. The stamped sentiments and buttons are from PTI, the Stamp Store stamp is from A Muse, and I used Copics to color the store.

Mini Milk Cartons

Today is the monthly board meeting for the local women's volunteer group that I am a part of. Last month I made them the little treat bags. This month I had something else in mind, but it didn't work out, so I ended up using the mini milk carton die from SU, instead, and am happy with the results. I filled them with Reeces Pieces. I'll know soon what they think as I'm about to be out the door now. All supplies are SU except for the orange ribbon which I think was from the Dollar Bin at Michaels.

PPA #67 & CPS #192

This is the CPS Sketch Challenge:

This is the color challenge from Paper Pals Arts:

And here is my take for both together:

I didn't actually have the grey color for the PPA challenge, so I went with the closest that I have. The other colors are the exact ones they asked for. This card is for my friend, Kim's 30th birthday this week. We share a love of chocolate (we went to a chocolate festival together when we both lived in NC!) so I know that she'll like this card. Her present that is going along with this card has a theme of chocolate as well ;) This is not my favorite color combination, but at least it got me to try something different. It really reminds me of Mickey Mouse colors (I grew up in FL, so am very aware of Disney...everywhere!) The chocolate on the stand is a SU set, so is the chocolate on the inside of the card and the sentiment. The box of chocolates is from Raisin Boat Stamps. The Poppy Parade and Daffodil Delight are SU colors, the grey is a PTI color. The circles were all cut with SU punches, the raised polka dots are a SU Sizzix embossing folder. The hearts are a SU punch, the border is Fiskars. The pearls are A Muse, all other punches and library clip are SU. The sentiment on the front is A Muse.

Lots of Layers!

So I'm in this swap with a group of SU demos from the area and the challenge was to use at least 5 layers and 3 embellishments on your card. The embellishments could be brads, ribbons, punches, etc. This was a fun challenge as I don't usually put this many layers on my cards (boy it would cost a lot of extra postage to send this!). I had just received the DSP that went along with this stamp set as I ordered it out of the SU clearance bin. I have received a swap from an SU convention that was similar to this one that I used to inspire my design. I had to add a lot of layers to what the original design had, though! I'm starting to like decorating the inside of the cards as I have done for the past two and may make it a tradition! Anyway, I think that this card is bright and cheery and that the group of swappers will like it :) All products are Stampin' Up.

TESC #132

My friend from work just adopted a Chihuahua so I had to make her a card from a fellow dog lover :) I used the sketch from Taylored Expressions and then used one of my new Big Shot Pro Dies that my mom got me for my birthday to make the coordinating box that I filled with dog treats for Lilly. The dog sets are from SU, the ticket set is from Paper Trey Ink. All papers are from SU. The border punch is EK Success, and white circle cut with Nestabilities. I decorated the inside, too, for another challenge, but I uploaded too late for that one, but I think she still liked that the inside was decorated, too (I don't usually do that). I wish I would have uploaded the pictures before I gave the card away, though, because they aren't very good, but too late since I already gave the card away. Oh well, trust me, it was cute :)

CPS #191

I've never done a sketch like this one, so it was a challenge, but I love how it turned out!

So its belated, but I know that my brother-in-law is going to love this birthday card! It will go perfectly with his gift (that I already sent) of Sam Adams special beer glasses (he swears that beer really does taste better in them ;) I got the color idea from a card I saw on the Pals Paper Arts Challenge that yesterday's card was entered into, I loved the color combo and had to try it out. All paper is from SU, in addition to the ribbon, stamps, and curly label punch. The circles were cut with Nestabilities and with one of the SU circle punches. The little green pearls are from A.C. Moore dollar bin. To make the beer foam I used liquid pearls, and made the whole thing stand out by outlining the beer mug with my light blue Copics marker (can't remember which number right now).

PPA#66

Time to get back into some challenges! Here is my take on this sketch. I used this new Die that I recently purchased from the MFT Die-namics line for the pendants on the top of the card. All papers are from SU, the pearls are from A Muse and from A.C. Moore dollar bin. The punches are from SU and EK Success. This is for my mom's 60th birthday that is this Sunday! I made her another present that you will be seeing on my blog soon as well.