Card Box

One of the things I am really going to try to do in the new year is to gt my cards to people on time! I have gotten better about making the cards and having a "stash" of ready made cards, but they often arrive just a little late. To help with my organization problems, I decided to put together this box. I started with the photo storage boxes from Hobby Lobby, just the plain black boxes. I wanted to decorate them with my own paper since I wasn't crazy about the colors they had to choose from. (Enabler alert: these boxes are on sale half price this week). I just used some paper that I believe is from My Mind's Eye to decorate my box. Since my box is black, I used black construction paper and the Sizzix Twang alphabet to punch out the letters to label the box. I didn't take a picture of the inside, but the boxes come with index cards and I used the Card Categories from Clear Dollar Stamps to make my index labels. That is a really great set, it comes with 33 different categories for you to use. This is also the project that we will be making for craft night at church on Friday night.

Since I mentioned my marathon cooking session, several people have asked me to let them know how it went. I actually had four freezer, cook one day eat for a month type of cookbooks already. I decided to go with the 2 week plan to start since it is normally only the two of us eating dinner, but we still wanted to have leftovers to use for lunches. I decided to use the Frozen Assets Cook for a Day Eat for a Month book by Deborah Taylor-Hough. There were a couple of reasons that I decided to start with this one. The first one being that a friend had given me a couple of recipes to try and I enjoyed them and they tasted good when they were thawed and served. Another was that the recipes seemed to be a little more economical than the other books I have. Here is a picture of my fully stocked freezer:

So we are set for a while! It was a long day of cooking but hopefully I will be able to really notice a difference during the week when our schedules are more than a little crazy. That's pretty much everything I made, except the soup that is in the refrigerator. I do have a couple of suggestions if you want to try this:

1. See if your library has some books for you to look through so you can get an idea of the recipes, but the one I mentioned above is my favorite. There is also a Lite and Easy book with the same name that has different recipes.

2. Start with the two week plan.

3. Buy aluminum foil even if you think you have plenty!

4. Read all the information before attempting to cook. I am a fairly experienced cook and have made Thanksgiving lunches to feed 200+ and dinners to feed 40-50, but cooking like this was a little different and it helps to do everything in the order that it is laid out in the book.

5. If you have a small family separate your meals before you freeze them to keep from eating the same thing for three or four days.

Feel free to email me if you have any questions!

Grandparents Anniversary

One of my goals for the coming year is to make my cards and get them in the mail in time for the occasion that I am making the card for! My grandparents will be celebrating their anniversary on Jan. 6th. I believe that it is their 62 anniversary. So the card is all done and ready to go in the mail. I am so happy with myself, at least I am starting off the year on the right track! The colors on this card match a little better IRL, the stamped part looks much brighter on this picture. I used CTMH With Love stamp set and CTMH inks Hollyhock, Spring Iris and Sweet Leaf. The Happy Anniversary stamp is from Michael's dollar bin and I have had it for a while. The paper is from My Mind's Eye, not sure about the ribbon though.

Several people have asked me to let them know how the cooking went. I will post more tomorrow. I got almost everything done today, except for one recipe. I grabbed tomato sauce instead of tomato paste so I will finish tomorrow afternoon and take a picture of my full freezer.

No Crafts Tonight

I don't have anything to show you tonight. Hopefully, I will get some crafting time in tomorrow. I have decided that I am going to try the cooking once a month way of cooking. Anyone done this before? I have tried a couple of recipes, but haven't done the whole bulk cooking thing. Basically, you spend most of one entire day cooking meals and then freezing them. During the month all you do for dinners is make your sides and then bake or defrost your main dish. I did all of my shopping and prep work today and will do the cooking tomorrow. Right now our schedules are a little crazy and we are eating out way too much. Bad for the wallet and the waistline! Hopefully this will work for us. I am starting with the two week plan since it is normally only the two of us eating dinners. Some things I am planning to freeze the full portion and some I am planning to make individual portions that I can grab and take to work or whatever. I will keep you posted as to how it goes and if you have any great recipes that freeze well, please pass them along. Have a great night!

Clipboards

This was the year of altering things for me. I did a lot of composition books and several clipboards. The one above is the one that I made for my niece Abby. She was very happy with it and I liked the way it turned out too. The pictures below are some of the others that I did, they were all different and most had a composition book to match.


Every year, I say I am going to start Christmas stuff early. I did this year, and I actually got more accomplished than I ever have, but I still needed more time! I am at least going to decide what I am going to make a little earlier in the year next year. Have a great weekend!!

Merry Christmas

Kip and I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!! We hope yours has been wonderful so far. Ours started at 5:30 a.m. this morning. We stayed with our friend Judy and the girls and they were so excited this morning. As we were laying in bed, you could hear the volume getting louder and louder as they came down the stairs and toward the tree. What a fantastic morning. I am so grateful to have them in my life. I have spent several Christmas morning's with them and it is the most fun that I have had since I was a little girl!

I can finally show you some of the gifts that I made for friends and family this year. I stamped and colored the bags above and filled them with bath goodies. I made bath fizzies and soap. I took a close up of the soap since it was layered with red and white layers. There was also a jar of the lotion that I made and showed you earlier in the month. Julie, yours is still at my house, sorry!

Wishing you the best as you are celebrating your holidays!

Prayer Journal Gifts

This is another composition book that I altered for a gift this year. I made several of these, but they were all similar. This one uses paper from The Paper Studio and ribbon from Hobby Lobby. The ribbon runs under my stamped image, starting the black border of the composition book and then I left enough on both the front and the back so that I could tie a bow to keep the book closed. The stamp set I used is from Clear Dollar Stamps and is called Prayer Journal. I love this set, the cross is beautiful and there are several options for personalizing a journal. Here, I embossed the cross with Espresso embossing powder and then stamped the words Prayer Journal with CTMH Cocoa ink. When I was putting the paper on the cover, it extended beyond the cover so on the bottom, I bent the paper up and then attached only the sides to create a pocket. In the pocket, I included this bookmark:

The bookmarks used the same paper as the matting on the stamped image. The Bible verse stamp is from Stamp LaJolla and was stamped with the same ink that I used on the journal. I am off until Tuesday! Hope you all have a great Christmas.

Altered Mint Tin

The last time I ordered from Papertrey Ink, I thought I hit the button to order nugget tins but I accidentally got these tins instead. I had thought about altering these at some point and decided now would be the time since I had six shiny, new ones! Every year I adopt an angel to buy Christmas gifts for. This year, I had a young girl that wanted very little. I got the boots that she requested and some necessities and then, to stretch my budget, I decided to include some things that I had made. I know when I was that age, I loved anything that had my name on it (and nothing ever did, because Gina was always spelled Jena and that just wasn't the same). Since I knew her first name, I made this little purse, a composition book and and apron, all personalized for her. The person filling out her paperwork said she liked all colors, but wasn't very fond of pink, so I went with purple and green. The paper is from The Paper Studio, ribbon is from Hobby Lobby, the tin is from PTI and the letters were die cut using Sizzix Wingo Zingo alphabet.

I went Christmas shopping today. Really for the first time this year. I had picked up one gift and Kip had gotten a couple, but the rest of my shopping was done today. Every where I went was busy, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. The worst place was Dick's Sporting Goods. That place was a madhouse! I am not sure how much I will be around over the next few days, I am still trying to finish the homemade gifts! I have only been able to post of few of these since some of the recipients read my blog from time to time. Good luck to you, if you are like me and postponed your shopping until the last minute!

Teacher Gifts

This is what I ended up making for Jenna and Samantha's teachers for Christmas. This particular set belongs to Jenna's teacher and Samantha's teacher got the pink and black ones that I posted earlier. Each teacher got a composition book, 2 RSVP pens, a coaster box, a paperclip bookmark with their monogram and an altered binder clip. Can you see it behind the composition book? I took a 4x6 piece of white card stock and edged it with a silver paint pen and then had them write their teacher a note. Then I took (2) 41/2 x 6/12 sheets of the patterned paper and adhered them together and then mounted the note onto the patterned paper. I let the girls pick out the colors and then they gave me suggestions on what they wanted to give their teacher. Oh yeah, each teacher also got a jar of lotion because I made a little bit more than I needed. Okay, way more than I needed!

This is my cooking and baking weekend. Judy still needed to take the girls shopping to get their gifts for each other so she brought each one over here for an hour or so today so that she could take the other one by herself. While Samantha was here we made marshmallows. She has always enjoyed being in the kitchen and trying new things. I told her what we were making and she was very excited, until she found out that they have to sit until the next day! I have never made them before, but our spoon taste test was impressive! Have a great weekend!

Serious Bragging on my Hubby

Okay, so yesterday was our third anniversary. I got a phone call from Kip while I was at work asking where my Scor-Pal was. I thought he had probably ran out of blank cards so he was going to make his own and then I didn't think anything else about it. He has been making me cards for a while now and I love them. When we sat down to exchange gifts though, I was blown away. I couldn't believe what was in my bag. I think I explained before that we don't spend a lot of money on anniversary gifts. What we do, is go by the traditional gifts for that year. Year one was paper, I got a book I had wanted. Year two, cotton, and we both got each other shirts. I also took "cotton" and expanded on that, he got a fresh cotton air freshener and a bag of Cotton Candy. This year was leather and you saw the book that I made for him and here is my gift from him: He needed the Scor-Pal to make those little jewelry boxes. He made those completely on his own, he wasn't following a template or anything. The bracelet and necklace? He made those too! He took leather cord and initial charms and made them. You can't see the clasps, but they are in the shape of a heart. He said he got some help from other people at Jo-Anns that were shopping in the jewelry making aisle. I think he is pretty amazing and I am going to keep him! You can also see the card that he made me. I also got a Blu-Ray copy of Mama Mia that I can watch over and over and over again! What a guy I have, huh?

Happy Anniversary

Three years ago today, Kip and I got married. I can't believe it has been that long, the time has just flown by. The traditional gift for a third anniversary is leather. I covered a 4x4 coaster with a strip of leather that I got at the craft store. The coaster with the additional thickness of the leather almost did not go in my Bind It All. Then I stamped directly onto the cover with CTMH Cocoa ink using a journaling set that I got from Repeat Impressions. I also stamped the sentiment onto several of the pages and wrote lots of mushy, lovey stuff!! Actually, several of the pages mention specific things in our individual pasts that lead us to meeting each other and just imagine what would have happened if we skipped that one portion of our life. Anyone of those steps could have meant that we would have never met. Then the second part is imagining the rest of our lives. I love you Kip, more than I could ever express!

Black and White Challenge

The challenge for our blogger group was to use black and white on a card, and only those two colors. Great challenge Sue. I am so tired, all I noticed on this paper was the black and white, and not the gray. Oops. The stamp set is from CTMH and is called Joy Forever. I used black embossing powder on the flower and then stamped the sentiment with black Palette ink. The ribbon is from Hobby Lobby. I also got that paper pack from there, but am not sure who it is from. It wasn't one of the normal paper packs I buy, but it had some really beautiful paper in it.

The next week or so is looking to be incredibly busy. I will post as much as I can, but might miss a few days here and there. I am of course rushing to finish my Christmas cards, Christmas gifts and planning how and where we are spending the holidays. I also need to start my Christmas shopping. Normally I am finished with the majority of it by Thanksgiving and that just did not happen this year. I have a good start on the hand made items and that's about it. I did buy the first one today while my SIL and I were at Michael's. One down and many more to go! Have a great week.

I'm Back

I have been MIA for the past few days because of my work schedule. We have had an issue arise which meant that I have been digging through archived paperwork all week long. Lots of extra hours. I haven't had to be at work at 6:30 in several years, so I was wiped out by the time I got home. What crafting time I have been able to squeeze in has been Christmas gifts that I couldn't post because the recipients sometimes read my blog. This is something that I made for myself and some friends. Inside the container is homemade lotion. I got the recipe from Denise on Splitcoast Stampers. I made a simple band to cover my plastic jar and then used Marvy punches to make a plain circle and a scalloped circle. The snowman stamp is from Studio G and colored with Prisma markers. The ball on his hat is covered with glitter. The snowflake on the band is from the PTI set Holiday Treats. I love that set, you can make a variety of labels for all the homemade treats that you make. Thanks for stopping by tonight!

Christmas Poinsettia

Real quick post tonight! I have been working some extra hours and I am so very tired. I bought this stamp at the Stamp Scrap Art tour that I went to in Chattanooga. I love the stained glass look that it has. I bought this poinsettia and a couple of more of the same style. As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to paint it with Twinkling H2os. The stamp is from a company called Stamp LaJolla. I really wish I could get a good picture of the shimmer that this paint has. It is so much prettier IRL. First I stamped the image and then went over the lines with a black Sakura Glaze pen, then I painted the image. The Glaze pen gives a slight raised look, and a much bolder line that with just stamping alone. I cut the image out on the border of the image and then mounted it onto green card stock from DCWV. The Merry Christmas is from the TAC set, Just for You and was embossed with gold embossing powder. Have a great night! How is everyone doing with their Christmas gifts?

Oh Christmas Tree

Just a quick post tonight, I have to be at work at 6:30 in the morning so I am going to bed very soon. Early morning is not my best time of day. This was another card that I made this weekend. I have seen several wreaths made with the Martha Stewart branch punch. I wanted to make a tree and this is what I came up with. I just used the branch punch to punch out a lot of branches with some olive card stock and glued them down in a tree shape. I stamped the Merry Christmas from the Just for You set by The Angel Company and embossed it with silver embossing powder. You can't really see the shimmer in the picture, but I painted the tips of the branches with silver Twinkling H2Os. It is pretty subtle, but I really like the effect that they gave. I thought about putting some decorations on the tree but decided I liked the plain tree with just the shimmer. What do you think?

Merry Christmas in ASL

I have had a busy weekend! We had our first Christmas Showcase at church yesterday. Several people brought in items that they had made to display and then we also had crafting space available for anyone that wanted to stay. I was there from 9:00 a.m. until almost 10:30 p.m. It was a very long day but also very productive and a lot of fun. Our church has a regular group, a Hispanic group with a Spanish speaking preacher and a Deaf group with a Deaf minister. Kip and I attend then Deaf service. We have been a part of that ministry since before we were married. Actually we met through this group. This was the card that I made for our group. I don't normally make one design for my Christmas cards, but since I found this stamp that spelled out Merry Christmas using the ASL alphabet, I made a lot of these. Not all of them were exactly the same, but they were all similar. I stamped the image (which is from Lost Angeles Rubberworks) and colored the wreath and hands with Prisma markers. The little holly berries are drops of Christmas Red Stickles. We have boxes for Christmas cards in the lobby (to help us save on postage) and not only did I get all the cards done for this group, but I also got them signed, in the envelopes and sorted in the boxes!

Speaking of our Deaf group at church, there was a small awards ceremony today, to thank some people for their years of service. We also planned to surprise the preacher with one for celebrating his 10th year with us. My husband was so excited helping plan this, because Mike had no idea. Imagine Kip's surprise to find out that we were also presented one! I had gone to church with Judy and the girl's for Samantha's musical so he had to accept for both of us. I did make it to the luncheon, just after the awards though. Since I am a little on the shy side, they were all teasing me a little. I hope you had a great weekend and had plenty of time to relax.

Thanks Dru

Dru from Garden of Dreams gave me this award. Thank you so much Dru! Check out her blog, she has some really cool vintage Santa cards on there. The rules for this award are:

1. Pick 10 people and pass the award to them.

2. Contact them and let them know you have chosen them and their blog for the award.

3. Link back to the person who gave you the award.

Here are my 10:

1. Erica

2. Sarah

3. Katherine

4. Laurie

5. Kay

6. Breezy

The rest I am going to have to add later!

Wrapping Presents

So do you enjoy wrapping gifts? I do for about the first four gifts and then I am over it! Fortunately my mom normally visits some time before the holidays and she LOVES to wrap gifts. She also enjoys folding laundry. I know, weird, right? And you thought I was strange after reading those random facts the other day. Well they say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I made this card using that pack of paper that I got at Hobby Lobby. The Christmas tree is from the same pack, there is a page filled with trees, Santa, wreaths, and other festive images. I just cut this one out to use here. I decided to try something a little different here by not using matting around my main image. I couldn't decide for sure, but I think I like it for a nice simple look. Hanna is colored with Prisma markers. The gift and ribbon were also colored with Prismas but after they were colored I went over them with Spica markers. The ribbon is also from Hobby Lobby. Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? Normally I try to be done with the shopping by Thanksgiving, but this year I haven't even started. I have started on my homemade items though. Have a great day!

Another Ornament

I am madly making Christmas things now. You will probably see mostly Christmas items for the next couple of weeks. I started early, but doing things here and there, and now I am running out of time! I found these cute square ornaments at Hobby Lobby. I guess they are ornaments but I think they could also double as place card holders on a table because of the way that the top is made. You could easily slide a piece of decorated card stock into the top of the ornament. I colored the snowman's face with Sharpie paint markers. This is the first time I have used their paint markers and let me tell you, they are the ones I will buy from now on. I like the fact that they come in three different sizes. I also like that they had a larger selection of markers that could be bought as singles than the other paint markers. Pretty simple. I am going to add a ribbon at the top but I am not sure where it is going so I couldn't decide on my color yet. To give it a snowy look, I added those tiny little styrofoam balls, which was not an easy process. So this may be the only one like this that I make. The opening at the top is so very, very small.

This Saturday we are having our monthly crafting event at church. If you are local I hope you are planning to join us. Email me and I will make sure you get all the details. Normally we do a Friday night, starting at 6 and going until after midnight. Because Christmas is fast approaching we are going to try and work all day on Saturday, finishing cards and hopefully getting some gift projects done. We are also going to be having a "Christmas Showcase" where we will have several ideas on display (and directions) that would make great gifts. Hopefully we will have a wide variety of items to showcase. Thanks for stopping by tonight!

Meow means "I Love You"

I hope everyone had a great weekend. We spent the weekend at my parents house. I got to spend some time with my niece, she had an art project due. We made an Arctic diorama. Kip taught her to make penguins using Sculptey clay. I wish I had taken a picture of it, it turned out very cute. We got home much later last night than we had planned, so I came in, started a load of laundry and then crashed.

There is a story behind my little cat card here. I have a friend, Judy that teases me, good-naturedly about my crafting habits. I tease her about a lot of other stuff. This weekend she had a cat that has been hiding out in her garage. Of course, her daughters are begging to keep the cat and have already named her (Hailey-because that rhymes with their puppy's name, Bailey). They are feeding the cat but she told them it could not come inside because it did not have a litter box. They came by here tonight and since we have three cats, Jenna wanted to know if they could borrow one of our litter boxes until the weekend! So I decided to make this card for Judy, just for kicks and giggles. I colored the cat above to look like the cat in her garage. I was looking through my stamps tonight looking for something that I wanted to work with and as soon as I saw this one I thought of making here this funny card. All of the stamps are from Clear Dollar Stamps. The "Meow" part of the sentiment is from the Cat Toys set, but the rest was computer generated. Images were colored using Prisma markers and the paper is DCWV. I hope you all have a friend like Judy that you can laugh with!