Wednesday, January 28, 2015

FRED

Here is another picture of Fred taken just 2 days later!  Here in New England we had a major snow storm that dumped 32" of snow in this area. Poor Fred, he was being buried in all the snow. Doesn't it look like he's waving goodbye??


Sunday, January 25, 2015

FRED THE SNOWMAN

Old man winter left us with 6-8" of snow yesterday.  Lucy and Lily made a snowman in their yard, then came over to my house and we all worked on "Fred", my first snowman of the season! He sits in the front yard looking towards the house. Each time I look out the window, Fred is smiling back at me.


There was enough snow to make a snowman, but 6-8" of snow isn't very much for New England.  However..... they are predicting a major snow storm starting tomorrow and going right through the following day. The forecast today is showing a prediction of 28 - 30" of snow for our area. Now THAT will be enough to make "Fred the snowman" an entire family of friends!! 
HAPPY WINTER!

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

CAFFEINE

There's a new challenge over at Card Camp this week.... make a card using bleach. I had no idea what I was going to do, but liked the challenge.  I started out searching for an image that I thought would work well. I decided I wanted a large image and Darcie's "Coffee Mug" fit the bill....


Sage Shadow, a retired color by SU, was used for my card base along with the layer used to stamp the image on. After stamping and embossing the imagine, I used the bleach, along with a small brush, to bleach out the color of the card stock to make the coffee mug white. Adding 4 patterned papers by Kaiser Craft and Really Rust card stock by SU.  The dies used are all from MFT. Stitched Strips, Blueprints 3, Stitched Rounded Rectangles STAX and Pierced Rectangle STAX. Inks used were Really Rust, Close to Cocoa, Not Quite Navy, Garden Green and More Mustard, all by SU. I added 5 little candy dots from the Regal color line by SU. Oh....I almost forgot, that cute little saying is from a great little coffee set called "Morning Cup" from SU.

Friday, January 2, 2015

WRAPPING UP 2014

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with family, friends, and anyone near and dear to you.
Now that we have wrapped up 2014, my wishes to each and everyone of you is that you all have a safe, healthy, prosperous, and HAPPY NEW YEAR 2015!
   May it be a great year for all of us.

CHRISTMAS CARD FOR 2014

I did pretty good this year in getting all of my shopping done and wrapped, some baking done, making a few things (including Casey's treats), and even got my Christmas cards made. I know not everyone got them in time for Christmas..... but this year I was able to get them made, unlike last year.
Real Red by SU was used as the card base. An embossed layer, done using a Cuttlebug embossing folder, was placed on top. The pretty holly patterned paper is from "A Christmas Carol" paper pack made by KaiserCraft. The mitten image is from "Make a Mitten" by SU, and the little greeting is from a set called "Stampin' Words" made by Rubber Stampede. Real Red and Wild Wasabi inks by SU were used. To finish off my card, a little plaid ribbon was placed on the mittens. I think it added just the right touch...

SNOWMAN CROSS STITCH

Because it's so hectic around the holidays and there is so much to do,  I wasn't able to finish my Lizzy Kate cross stitch project for the month of December. Instead, I displayed another small 5x5" cross stitched piece that I stitched a couple of years ago. I just love snowmen and  thought the little kitty in this one nuzzled up next to the snowman was just adorable!
This pattern was one I had found in an old copy of a Leisure Arts magazine way back from 1983!!! I loved the pattern so had ripped it out of the magazine and kept it for all those years. The good thing is....I still like it as much as I did way back then.  :)
I'm working on my project for January and will post that one this month. I'll go back to the Lizzy Kate one for December and work on that when I've finished the rest. I have them all done now except for February, March, and April. I'm getting there.......

CASEY'S CHRISTMAS GIFT

Well it just wouldn't be right to not include Casey on my Christmas gift list.  Casey is the furry member of the family who is most definitely part of our family! This year I decided to buy her a new Christmas scarf and make her some home made treats.  I put out a request on my Facebook page for a recipe for making dog treats, one that someone had already tried that had come out good. Just minutes later, a friend Dannette, sent me a recipe for making peanut butter dog treats. I bought a little cookie cutter in the shape of a dog bone made by Wilson and started my present for Casey....
They really came out good. I'm sure Casey would agree....
MERRY CHRISTMAS CASEY!

CHRISTMAS PJ'S

I have bought my granddaughters, Lucy and Lily, matching pajamas/nightgowns each year and given them to the girls Thanksgiving evening since 2007. I then get a picture of them sitting by the Christmas tree together wearing their matching pajamas. Now that I have several years worth of these photos (oh my, have they changed!) I want to do a double layout scrapbook page with the photos, with openings for several more years of photos to come...
Designing this layout is one of my crafting goals/challenges for this year. I just love looking at these pictures of them in their matching pajamas taken since Lily was born. They are growing up so quickly.....  wish me luck designing the layout!  :)

LUCY'S GIFT

My oldest grand child just turned 9. She loves coming to "play" in my craft room with me. We decided it would be fun to work on a project this year making a small gift for each of her classmates at school.  She would come over for a few hours at a time over a period of a couple of weeks and work on her project in steps. Here is the finished project!

The clear 1" bags were used for the holiday M&M's. She used Garden Green and Real Red SU card stock that matched the candy. On the back of each one was another round circle that said TO: and FROM: so she could put each classmates name along with hers. She took her time and did a great job coloring the images. The candy cane and tree images are from SU's Scentsational Season stamp set and the Santa image is from another SU set called Holiday Helpers. The cute little snowman with his broom is from the Snow Much Fun set by Gina K Designs. After making all of these circles and scalloped circles using MFT die-namics, she considers herself an expert with the Big Shot.  :)
I was so proud of Lucy, she took her time and did a great job! The best part was she told me how good it made her feel when she gave one to each of her friends.

   Bless you Lucy, that is the true spirit of Christmas!

NOVEMBER

My cross stitch for November is none other than Tom Turkey!  Isn't he cute with all his colorful feathers?
I just love these monthly cross stitched little framed projects by Lizzie Kate and hope you enjoy seeing them as they are made and posted. I photographed this one sitting on the stand they are placed on each month. They're the perfect size ( 5x5") for where they sit in my kitchen.

BLESSINGS

We have a weekly challenge in a card group I belong to. Each week one of the members take a turn in picking out the challenge for the week and this week it was my turn! I chose a 2-part challenge....everyone is to make an Autumn card AND post it to their blog, if they have one. I think making the card will be easy, but I'm thinking that the real challenge will be getting them to post it to their blog!

I really like Autumn cards. Perhaps it's because of the beautiful colors this time of the year brings to us here in New England. I used white as my card base, adding True Thyme, a retired color from SU. The patterned papers were found in my paper scrap pile so I have no idea who made them. MFT die-namics used were the Pierced Square STAX and the Little Open Scallop Strip. The image is one from Rubber Stampede called Sunflower. I have had this stamp for years and this is the first time it's ever seen ink! I really like it and will definitely use it again. The little leaves were made using Marvy Punches, topped off with some linen thread and a button from SU. Copics were used to color this pretty sunflower.


PUMPKIN CARD

One of the challenges in a stamp group I belong to was to make a "shaped card".  I chose to do mine in the shape of a pumpkin.
Pumpkin Pie card stock by SU was used for the base of the card. My Mind's Eye patterned paper from the Mabel collection was also used. The cute little flower buttons are from The Cat's Pajamas and topped with some linen thread and buttons from the Earth Elements line of SU. I used a "For You" greeting from the "All Occasion Sentiments" made by MFT.

HALLOWEEN CARDS

I am really behind on my blog posting!  I will be posting a few things today in an attempt to get somewhat caught up, even though the postings are now seasonally out dated.
 













































These are the cards I made for my granddaughters this year for Halloween. They were quick and easy to do.  I have added the inside of Lucy's card to show how I made an insert for the inside of the card to hold a surprise. This worked out great and would work nicely for inserting a gift card in your card as well.  I hope Lucy, Lily, and Claudia all had a great Halloween!