Christmas Is Over, But We're Still Celebrating!

How was everyone's Christmas? Ours was great, and we still have one more tomorrow to go to. We kept things simple this year, so the kids didn't get an over abundance of toys that they'll only play with for a short time. What is crazy is that a few days ago the temps in Ohio were below zero , but today it it 65 degrees and sunny! I am in a fantastic mood because of it. I'm getting so much done today! It's the perfect day to get those outdoor Christmas decorations put away. On to the project... Using yet another of Lauren's Timeless Template found over at PTI

I was able to create this adorable holder for these chocolate covered marshmallows to be used as stir sticks for hot chocolate. I made the marshmallows by stacking two in a lollipop stick and covering them in melted bakers chocolate and covering them with crushed candy canes. I just placed them on wax paper and out them in the refridgerator for a few minutes to set up.
Here is a closer look. This went to one of my aunts that I had for a gift exchange. She thought it came from a gourmet shop we have in town! It was very inexpensive to make. Probably less than $4 all together. I am going to take advantage of this beautiful day and I hope you do too!

Warm Wishes

This is probably going to be my last post until the day after Christmas. I HAVE to get presents wrapped and last minute gifts put together. The pressure is on! The boys are getting so excited. I love it! On to the card. I picked up this cute little clear stmap set at Walmart for under $3. It has a moose, a polar bear, a couple of porcupines, a penquin, a snowflake, and a sentiment. Not bad for $3! I used Lauren's saturday sketch for this card. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Sending An Ohio Christmas To Texas

It's been a while, huh!? Not because I haven't been around, but because we got an ice storm that made my internet server loose electricity. This gift was sent to a friend in Texas. Hopefully, she has gotten it by now, but if not....act surprised when you get it Haley! I just wanted her family to know that we were thinking about them this Christmas, and she of all people understands my goal of trying to keep things inexpensive. The idea of the Christmas Tree Garden was born when my s-i-l and I were walking through Target in November and came across these little pots with seeds for Christmas trees in the dollar spot. I scooped them up because I knew they'd be a perfect match for the egg boxes that I just had to have from PTI they are sitting in my closet collecting dust. So I went to work covering the box with adorable d.p. Now the insert for the box had 6 holes. My pots were just a little too big to fut 6 so I covered the insert with cardstock and only cut out 3 holes. I made some cutey little picks to put in the pots , so she knows what's what when she plants the seeds. FPr shipping purposes I put the seed packets and instructions under the insert to keep them contained. So I hope she likes it. I thought it was a fun gift and urge you think outside the box this Christmas!

Final Gift Using The Stocking Stuffer Template

I hope that I haven't over used this template during this Christmas season, but it was so easy to make these stockings and fill with little goodies for everyone of my gift giving list. This last one goes to Cameron's student teacher who has finished her student teaching this week. Cameron is very fond of her and didn't want her to be overlooked just because she has left the classroom before Christmas break. I used the Sweet Always d.p. for this stocking. I can't remember what the stamp set is called that I used on this one, but all images were colored with Copic markers. I filled the bag for the inside with little carmel chocolate apples. Perfect for teachers. I found them at Walmart, along with white chocolate snowflakes, green frogs, and milk chocolate mittens. Too cute! A snow/ice storm is on it's way for this is evening so I hope everyone stays in and stays warm!

Gift Exchange Stocking

This year for my mom's side of the family we decided to go the gift exhange route. I drew my step dad's name. In an effort to keep the cost of the gift down, I used Lauren's (free!) stocking stuffer template to create the gift packaging for his gift card. I think that presentation of the gift is sometimes as important as the gift itself. I love how masculine this stocking turned out. I just went around house looking at my Christmas decoration trying to find the perfect "embellishments" to snatch for this project. The d.p. is by SU! called Frosty Day. I made the tag using my Marvy scallop square punch and a retired stamp from the Noble Deer set, by SU! I used that same pinecone stamp with Timber Brown Staz On to stamp the bag on the inside of the stocking that holds the gift card. I am really happy how this turned out and will be using this template a lot! Be sure to scroll down for my earlier post.

What A Weekend

I am so glad the weekend is over and hope this week goes much better than the last. It just seemed like one thing after another and I need a break! Here is a picture I took of Hemi yesterday. A few people have asked how she's doing. As you can see she's growing! She's almost 30 pounds. She spent the day with my mom yesterday because we hosted Christmas for my husband's family at our house. With nearly 40 people here I thought she would just be underfoot all day, so my mom offered to keep her. Grandma says she was a good girl, but I know my Hemi:)
As I said we had Christmas at our house, but unfortunately I woke up yesterday morning to the flu. Thankfully, I was able to get out of bed by the time guests started arriving, but I was a terrible hostess. The smell of the food was too much for me to stomach and the noise level was hard to handle. It would've been great if I had felt better and by midafternoon Dustin started feeling sick too. We were glad when the day ended so we could go to bed...at 7p.m! As you can see, Santa dropped in for a quick visit. He brought all 14 of the children matching pajama pants and a small toy. Carter has done so well with Santa this year. As a matter of fact, he wanted really didn't want to share Santa yesterday. He has made it very clear that he wants a blue 4 wheeler this year. Santa better bring this child a blue 4 wheeler or mommy and daddy are going to hear about for a long time!

As I have said before, Cameron is really into the magic of Christmas. He asks a lot of questions. He really wanted to know how Santa knew that he took pigs to the fair, or that he's done a lot of camping over the summer, and fights daily with his brothers! Santa is always watching,Cam! He wants a new bike, but he recently got a 4 wheeler, so I'm not sure that Santa will deliver on this one!

And finally, my big man, Ausitn. Too cool to sit on Santa's lap. And totally mortified when Santa asked about his girlfriend. He was as red as Santa's suit! But he stood there long enough to humor me so I could get a picture.

Nugget Tin Gift

Just a quick Christmas gift to share with you today. This will go to the boys' bus driver. I always feel that we also need to thank her for making sure my boys get to school safely each day. Most people remember the teachers during this time of year, but forgot people like the bus driver, or the school secretary, or principal. I simply wrapped some Hershey nuggets with some of the d.p. left from the I Wish SSK. and added a belly band and tag. Then I put them in a hinged tin that can be purchased at Specialty Bottle or PTI. Very simple!

C.C. Designs Meets Today's SCS Color Challenge

I feel like I make excuses when I haven't been posting daily. I feel guilty , but I shouldn't. I've been nursing a cold and now Carter has it, so I haven't felt much like stamping. I must admit that I cased this card for the most part with one that Lauren made yesterday. I used today's color combo for the SCS color challenge which is Riding Hood Red, Taken With Teal, Baja Breeze, and White. There are a few things I would change now that I look at it, but oh well. I do have other things I want to share, but I want these gifts to get to the recipients before posting them.

Since I had everything still out from my previous post, I decided just to use it again for Lauren's Saturday Sketch. This is a great sketch for quick cards and because my main image is solid, there was no coloring involved. It took less than 10 minutes to put this card together. Now I'm off to take the boys to CCD and hope to get the rest of my Christmas gifts completed.

Get In Gear...

This card is for one of Carter's little preschool buddies. He was invited to his birthday party today. Of course, I can't just buy a card and since the gift bag is from the movie Wall-e I had to pull out my only robot set- Gizmos & Gears. My colors came from my d.p. by Scenic Route. It has gears on it, so I thought it would be perfect for this card. I'm hoping to be back with Lauren's Saturday sketch, but no promises since I'll be doing lots of running today.

Sleeping Santa & Peppermint Snowpals

I'm going to start off by saying how proud I am to be a mom. I know most of you come here to see my creations, but once in a while I have to share my family with you. I took this picture of Cameron last night after he went to sleep. He's been sleeping with his Santa hat on the past few nights. Why is that a big deal, you ask? It reminds me that there is magic at Christmas time for my children. Especially for Cam. He is at that at that age where he really believes in this whole Christmas spectical and it makes me realize even more what a special little boy he is. Being the middle child he is often overlooked, but he holds such a special place in my heart. He wears his heart on his sleeve and isn't afraid to show it. He is always telling us he loves us and he is full of compliments. If you're having a bad day he knows just what to say. The other day was Dustin's birthday. After we sang happy birthday to him, Cameron tells him that he is his hero. Dustin asked him why and Cam said because he protects us. My heart exploded and he made me so proud of him! So this year at Christmas I urge you to look through your children's eyes at the magic and wonder of this holiday instead of getting caught up in the hustle and bustle of it all.

The next picture is just of some quick snowpals I put together with my leftover peppermint patties. I call them snowpals instead of snowmen because yesterday while going through some of my lesson plan books (I used to teach preschool), I remembered that we were taught not to say snowmen because that was sexist. They taugh us a lot of other goofey thing to say, but that's another post. Enjoy your day!

There's No Day....

Here's a card from last week that I never got to post with the craziness of the holidays. I think it was from Julee's Mojo Monday sketch, but I'm not positive. My main image was from last year's CC Designs release. Lulu is building a snowman, I love the colors in the My Minds Eye d.p. that I used. There is lots of glitter on this card for the snow. I colored my main image with Copics. Dear Santa, if you're reading this....I NEED more. Lots more!

Weekend Wrap Up

I could share tons of pictures with you from the weekend, but I'll spare you. But here is a potential family photo for our Christmas cards. What a wonderful long weekend, huh!? We have been on the go from 10 am to midnight or after every night since Wednesday. We are exhausted and having a hard time jumping into the Monday routine. I'll be back later to share a card and hopefully a Mojo Monday sketch!

A Christmas Wish

I love the color combo that I went with for this card. Very non traditional Christmas colors in Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip, and Riding hood Red. I started with a Soft Sky card base. The next layer is Chocolate Chip stamped with C.C. snowflakes. The middle is a layer of R. Red and S. Sky wrapped with C.C. ribbon. I added a felt flurry snowflake to the middle with a Build-A-Brad and embossed "A Christmas Wish" on the bottom left corner. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with many blessings just incase I don't make it back here before then!

Trifold Gift Card Holder

I've been feeling extremely guilty for not posting since last week, but I'm trying to get things ready for all of upcoming holiday events that will be non stop until New Year's. This Friday we will be celebrating Christmas with Dustin's family and we needed a gift card for his 8 year old Godson. Boys could care less about the packaging, so I whipped up a quick trifold gift card holder to put it in. I took little time to put it together since it will promptly be going into the trash can. I started with a 4" x 9" piece of cardstock and scored it at 3" & 6". I added some My Minds Eye d.p. to the flap that opens. I created a belly band to keep it closed. For the inside I sealed a small envelope, then sliced the top off, so it was open, and used a circle punch to punch a notch out of the top so he could easily grab the gift card out. I punched out different size circles from several colors of cardstock and adhered them to the bottom of the envelope to jazz it up a little. That's about it. Today it is raining and cold, so besides working on Julee's Mojo Monday sketch (which hasn't posted yet) I intend to put up the Christmas tree. For those of you out there with puppies, feel free to pass along any tips you have for keeping the dog away from the tree. I have a feeling this year is going to be a constant battle with Hemi. She's lucky she's cute!

From Our House To Yours

This is the last of my new Riley Moose stamps. This is Santa Riley. I used him to combine Julee's Mojo Monday sketch and this week's SCS color challenge of Real Red, Black, and Kraft. Everything on the card is SU! except for the main image. I colored him with Copics and used liquid applique for his beard and hat. The rest is pretty basic. Make sure to scroll down for my earlier post.

Because I know That You Can't Get Enough Of Hemi & Carter

You are probably wondering why I always have pictures of Carter and Hemi to post, but rarely any of the other 2 boys. That's because Carter goes to preschool 2 days a week and is home with me the rest of the week while the other 2 are in school. It is also because the other boys pay little attention to Hemi and taking their picture for "no reason" is a waste of time according to them. Apparently their busy schedule won't allow it. So, yesterday Carter asked me to take his picture with Hemi. He had to give her bunny ears. The other picture was at nap time. How peaceful our house is when they are all sleeping!

First Snow & Ornament Boxes

This morning we woke up to the first snow of the season that has amounted to anything. It snowed off and on all weekend but didn't stick. I took this picture through the foggy door. That's why it's a little blurry, but this was the very first time Hemi has seen snow. She loves it, but she doesn't love the cold, so she doesn't stay out long.

Now, I think these ornament boxes turned out just darling. You can purchase the template over at PTI. It's called For Keep{sake}. You don't have to use it just for ornaments, but it is tradition at my house to buy the boys each a new orament each year. That way, when they are grown and gone they will have a collection of ornaments for their own tree. Dustin's mom did that for him and still does, so we get lots of new ornaments each year. I love that tradition! Do you have any family holiday traditions?

Plant It & Watch It Grow

This is another one of my new Riley Moose stamps from Hanna Stamps. Since we are a farm family I had to have this tractor stamp. I made this cards for Lauren's Saturday Sketch to send to my nephew, who loves moose.

Riley Moose Builds A Snowman

I am late posting this card due to the fact that the kids had other things in mind rather than napping at the same time so I could get this done! TGIF is all I have to say about that! Anyway- I got some new Riley Moose stamps from Hanna Stamps in the mail today, so I was anxious to use one for today's cupcake challenge.

I used some of my My Mind's Eye d.p., and colored my image with copics. I also used my Martha Stewart Snowflake punch again. If you click on the picture you can see the glitter all over the snowman.

There's No Place Like Home For The Holidays

This card is using yesterday's scs sketch challenge. I rotated the sketch a little to work with my main image. I'm loving the Boards & Beams and Home For The Holidays sets from PTI. I also used Martha Stewart's snowflake punch and d.p. from SU's I Wish SSK.I used Copics to color everything and added lots of glitter. Now I'm off and running to the grocery store.

Scallop Punch Peppermint Patty Sunflowers

My mom is hosting Thanksgiving at her house this year and asked that I make a "little something" for the tables. I could've gone way overboard with this assignment, but time would not allow it. So I went with these super simple scallop punch sunflowers. I am a sucker for fall colors. I could've gone with the "traditional sunflower yellow", but I added a few other colors as well. A few weeks ago my cousin had a fall themed wedding and these would've been perfect for favors. I made tons of these because they take so little time and I wanted to share them with my mommy friends at MOPS and at all of the Thanksgiving gatherings I will be attending.

Top Note Owls

I saw a version of these owls floating around blog land using the new Top Note Sizzix die, so I had to try it myself. How stinkin' cute are they!?
I have to say that I am very excited about this one. I have not seen one like this yet. It's a snowy owl. I mentioned before that my mom used to collect owl figurines and such. What I didn't tell you is that as a child we had several as pets. I should've taken a details shot of this one becasue her belly is stamped with snowflakes and her entire body is covered with white flock! I love the pink and grey color combo as well.Oh- and I went out in the freezing cold to get sticks so I could could put liquid applique on it to look like snow! Now I'm off to see what else I can use this Top Note die for!

Merry Wishes

Let me just say that is so cold that my hands hurts to type! We actually had some snow flurries last night. So this card seemed fitting for my Mojo Monday sketch card. I pulled out my Wreathabella and matched her up with some of my leftover Figgy Pudding d.p. by Basic Grey from last year. I colored her with Copics. I don't have Nesties or any other big scallop circle so I had to do it the old fashioned way, with the Coluzzle and corner rounder punch! Maybe I'll put those Nesties on my Christmas list! Be sure to scroll down for my earlier post. Happy Monday!

Accidents Happen

How was everyone's weekend? We had no big plans, so we just hung out most of the time. I got a few scrapbook layouts done! Saturday afternoon my mom and I took the boys to see Madagascar 2. They loved it. It was Carter's first time to the movies, so I was a little unsure if he would sit still through the whole thing, but he did great! Yesterday afternoon Cameron and I made a trip to the ER. He and Carter were running through the house and he says Carter pushed him. Either way, he slid on his bedroom floor, which is wood, and busted his chin open requiring 3 stitches. He actually laughed during the stitching. Of course he was numb, but I am not a needle person so I had a tough time watching. He wanted to hold my hand while they stitched him up, but I realized that I was squeezing his hand harder than he was squeezing mine! He's a tough little guy! So Friday morning we will make a trip to our family doctor to get them removed. I'll be back soon will today's Mojo Monday Sketch!

Merry Christmoose!

I just love moose images and this is one of my favorites that I got last year from High Hopes. This will be the Christmas card that I give one of my daycare families because the mom loves moose as well. I used Wednesday's SCS sketch challenge for my layout.My main image was a little big for the panel it was supposed to fit on, so I just trimmed around the tree to make it fit. I use the Frosty Day d.p. from SU! and the chocolate ribbon from the SU! Alpine collection. And I just picked up this snowflake punch today by Martha Stewart.

Hemi Photo and Create-A-Calendar

How cute is she!? Probably cuter than the project I'm posting today. I can't believe how fast she is growing. She is getting so tall and her feet are huge. She still has a lot of that puppy energy and three boys chasing after her doesn't help! On to the project... the reason you're here in the first place.

This calendar was made from SU!'s create-a-calendar kit. It took probably less that 10 minutes to put together and would make a great stocking stuffer for someone. It could be used as a perpetual calendar to put birthdays and anniversaries on the lines of each month. Well, I'm off to enjoy the last of this 70 degree weather were having! I love it!

Pancakes In A Jar

Today I wanted to share with you another one of my potential Christmas gifts. I got this idea from Lauren who is more talented that anyone I know. Packaging and presentation are her specialties. So, I picked up some glass jars at Target with a screw top lid as well as several types of pancake mixes. This one is Banana Chcolate Chip. I will keep the mix in it's original bag until it's almost time to give it away so that it stays fresh. I decorated the outside of the jar using Boards and Beams & Home For The Holidays from PTI. I typed up the directions on the computer and printed them out and added them to the lid for easy referal. This scene was so much fun to build using these two sets together. Well, I've got half a dozen more of these to make and things to get ready for Monday morning so that's it for today.

Happy Blessings

Real quick today I took a few minutes to throw together a card for Taylor's Cupcake Sketch Challenge. Not having much time these days to stamp is really starting to make me cranky! But on the bright side it's a beautiful day today to take the boys trick-or-treating and maybe this weekend I will MAKE some time to do what I want to do since the Halloween Hoopla will be over. Taylor had a great sketch today for a quick card. I love to color this image from the Happy Blessings set. Now I'm off to frantically search for the shirt to Carter's costume that is MIA. Trick-or-Treat is in just an hour. Happy Halloween!

Quick Pic Of My Babies

Sorry I don't have anything crafty to share with you today. Yesterday I dodn't get time to create because I had my daycare Halloween party. They got to be crafty though. They made handprint bats and Monster Mush (flubber). I had my camera put to take pictures of that craziness and Carter wanted to me take of picture of him and Hemi. Aren't they precious!?

Winter Workshop Projects

Sunday I had another great workshop. A lot of new faces, which is great. You could tell they were excited to be there and were anxious to learn. They were ready to jump right in and get creating, so after a quick catalog tour I showed them how quickly and inexpensively they could spruce up their dinner table with this adorable place setting. Using the new SU! Christmas rub ons and the I Wish Simply Scrappin' kit, the possibilities are endless. I picked up a mug, a salad plate, and a dinner plate in this Olive color and a neutral color fabric napkin from Walmart- all for under $10 and went to work. I started by making a placemat. I picked out 1 sheet of the d.p. from the SSKit. Then I cut 2- 12"x 1" strips of the textured Real Red carstock, also in the kit. Using the scallop border punched I scalloped the edges and attached them to the sides of the "placemat". I will get that laminated so that it doesn't get ruined. Then for the plated I simply added some of the small snowflake rub ons to the rim of the plate. I will also add a clear coat of some sort to protect the plates. I also added a large snowflake rub on to the mug. For the napkin I added rub ons along the bottom of the napkin, folded it, and added a band for the napking ring. I placed some of the cardstock stickers to the band to fancy it up a little. Just for fun I made a menu. I just printed out the meal using a font from my Write Me A Memory II CD on the computer, matted it on textured Real Red c.s. added some Alpine Ribbon and stamped the reindeer from Winter Post on the corner. And finally, my favorite...the stocking. I downloaded the FREE downloadable Stocking Stuffer Template from PTI. I used the cardstock and d.p. from the SSKit, as well. Then I filled it with Raspberry cookies. How great is that? It probably only took me an hour to put together this whole set, and even less the second time I did it, so if you're looking for an inexpensive way to spruce up your table this holiday season you might give this a try! And who knows, I may just give this away as a Christmas gift as well!

Happy Winter

It sure feels like winter here in Ohio. I had to break down and dig out the winter coasts yesterday. I do not like winter! But I do like this card. I used Wednesday's SCS sketch challenge for the layout. I used SU!'s Frosty Day d.p. for my color inspiration. I've been so busy these past few weeks that my blog post are lacking content, but there are other things that have to come first. On that note, back to work I go!