Valentine's Day Frame

While at Michael's the other day (only there as was equipped with my 25% discount off of total purchase coupon) I stumbled across these heart shaped frames for the bargain price of $ 1.00.

I remembered that I had some of this heart paper left over from the Kid's Valentine's Day class that my friend Karina had done for kids last year of which my son participated (yes, I still have year old Designer Series Paper - and look now it has been used!) and the new silver glitter paper from Stampin Up along with the red would be awesome.

The paper was cut to size and then Mod Podged (not sure if that is a word - took a noun and tried to verb it...).  Once it was dry, I coated over the DSP with another layer of Mod Podge.  Then after this had dried, sponged all wooden edges with Real Red Craft Ink (worked AWESOME) and then used the Stampin Up Heart punch to punch out the red and silver hearts. 

Currently, this sits on my buffet along with some of the other Valentine's knick knacks I have gathered to make a little theme area next to the dining room table.  My son thinks this whole collection is quite great.  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Oh S"crap"! It's Monday - Rag Quilt Stampin Up Style

If you follow my blog at all you know how much I love rag quilts.  Today, for my project to to use up some of those scraps of paper in my scrap box (paper stash - in addition to fabric and cookie stash) I decided to make a rag card (if it were a problem with my fabric stash I would make a rag quilt).  The paper is cut in 1" squares and placed on a 4" x 5" piece of paper.  Then I stitched it all in place so that it would look like a proper rag quilt.  Was not sure what to put for a greeting until I saw this one from the Touch of Kindness stamp set.  Rag quilts really are about appreciating "the simple things in life".  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Everyday Enchantment Card

I found these little chipboard cut out birds at Michael's the other day (only there because had 25% discount coupon), and could not resist them for this purpose.  

The bird is sponged with Peach Parfait Ink, and the branch and leaves are sponged with Pear Pizazz and Wild Wasabi Ink.  

Once dry I adhered them to a Early Espresso Card Base on which the Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper and the Pool Party Paper had been run through the lattice embossing folder.  

Very quick project, but kind of Top Drawer I think.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Field Journals

A few years ago when I bought my Bind It All tool I made a small journal for my son and put a dinosaur on the front so it would look proper for a little boy.  Ever since that time, he has carried small notebooks in his pockets (pants, snow pants, mud pants, back pack, lunch box, probably even some under the bed) and all of them are visibly scribed on "FIELD JOURNAL".  

Now, I love finding these "journals" when he forgets to put them away or I find them in the laundry as they are a glimpse into the very important matters of a seven year old boy.  I learn about the baby rabbit in the shrub behind the school, and that it does not like to be fed leaves, that the bug population on the boys bathroom floor at school has increased in population size since yesterday, what James had for lunch and what it looked and smelled like, and other assorted sundry matters that are of paramount importance.  

As I looked at my stack of these books that I keep on hand for that inevitable call "Mom, I need another journal" I decided I would use up some of the Twitterpated Designer Series Paper (DSP) and make some "girly" Field Journals.  The books are first covered in DSP and then the fabric flower from the Flowers Die are put on (there is Wonder Under on the back to fuse the flowers to the paper).  Various oddments are added on including buttons and on the middle one I cut and sewed the ribbon together to go around the book and then fused the flower to the ribbon.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Cookies a la Evelyn

While I love the idea of the Cookie Stamps from Stampin Up, I have difficulty with getting good images from the snowflake and now the heart Cookie Stamps.  The Halloween one was great because the image protruded from the stamp face, the other Cookie Stamps all have recessed images and this makes them difficult to work with.

My son and I decided to make the heart ones tonight (used the recipe that was included with stamp set - will not use it again, very bland flavour). 

After cutting out the cookies with a heart shaped cutter I tried using the stamp dipped in red decorator sugar and found the granules to big.  Then I tried coloring granulated sugar to see if that would work - didn't got a big gob of sugar.  Hmmmmmmm

As I stared into the cupboard wondering what else I could do I spied a box of wild cherry Jello!!  When I was a kid if my mom needed to color icing she would use Jello powder to color the icing rather than food coloring.  What if I dipped the stamp in Jello powder prior to stamping???

Well, this is what I got.  The cookies have a light flavor of wild cherry (my son has requested strawberry for next time), and the image comes out visible.  The baking process seems to intensify the color as well, the cookies were not this bright when I put them to bake.  

So there you have it, cookies a la Evelyn.  Thanks mom.  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Sale-a-bration Cards

I think I may have crafting commitment problems.  Not sure that there is a group or therapist out there trained in this exact niche of the psych world....hmmmm.

I started to make this card this morning with the intent to showcase the Every day Enchantment Designer Series Paper (DSP)  that you can get for free through Stampin Up's Sale-a-bration promotion.

I decided on my colors, Poppy Parade, Very Vanilla, and the Dsp, then decided to start building my card.

First I went for my Cuttlebug (not SU issue).

Then I took out this swirly embossing folder (might have come with the Cuttlebug as the lettering is all worn off - not SU issue).

After embossing the very vanilla I decided I would use my distressing kit (actually SU product) and used the flat stamp and Tea Stain ink on all the very vanilla images.

While getting out the Cuttlebug I came across an old set of Spellbinders die cutters in this scallop square shape and I thought that they looked kind of similar to the shapes on the DSP so I cut out matching Very Vanilla and Poppy Parade shapes.  

I stamped on the Very Vanilla using the You Are Loved stamp set (Christmas Holiday Mini 2011 - actually SU product).  The colors I used for the image are Cajun Craze, Old Olive and Baja Blue. 

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

How to make Envelopes Kathy style

I have been playing a lot with my Simply Scored Tool, and I love it.  Over the Christmas holidays, I decided to make envelopes with it, and here is what I have come up with.

Cut Designer Series Paper at 6 3/4" wide, and 10" long.  

Score along with length side at 1/2" on both sides.

Turn paper so that the width/longest edge is along the top measurement line of the Simply Scored Tool.

Score Designer Series Paper at 1 1/2".

Score Designer Series Paper at 6".

Make cuts as seen above (cut out 1/2" wide rectangle on either side of 1 1/2" score mark - creates envelope flap).

Cut 1/2 inch on either side at 6" score mark.

Fold on scored lines towards inside of envelope.

Apply sticky strip along 1/2" edges on lower portion of envelope and fold upwards.

Insert card and enjoy.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Cut Once, Stamp Twice

Here is another edition of my Cut Once, Stamp Twice idea for the year.  This paper comes from the Sale-a-bration promotion that starts today with Stampin Up.  I used Lucky Limeaide card stock for the base, a layer of crumb cake and zig zag stitched the designer series paper to both cards.  The card on the left the image is from one of the stamp sets you can get during Sale-a-bration called Fresh Vintage.   The image was stamped on whisper white then applied to Lucky Limeaide card stock and stitched around the edge with Pool Party Bakers Twine (had to get more fiber in there).  The card on the right has flowers punched from the designer series paper as well as the solid card stock using the triple flower punch, and an antique brad in the center one just because I thought it was pretty.  

Now if you look closely on the left you will notice a matching envelope.  I love my Simply Scored Tool, and over the holidays started playing with it and decided to make envelopes.  It has just come to my attention that Stampin Up will be introducing a tool to assist with this, however, I will post my version of how to make envelopes tomorrow.  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Oh S"crap"! It's Monday...

Oh S"crap", it's Monday again!  I went through my box of paper scraps today, and this is what I came up with.  Left over black card stock, a piece of whisper white card stock that had previously been run through the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, and a couple pieces of left over wax paper resist paper.  The wax paper resist paper is sponged with Pear Pizazz ink, then stamped with the Field Flowers (the Saskatchewan farm kid in me thinks that they look a lot like weeds).  The image is stamped with black Staz On ink.  The Poppy Parade flower (was really tempted to stamp it in either a more mustard or wisteria wonder so that it would look like a weed) is cut out with scissors and a pop dot underneath to add some dimension.  A small piece of black ribbon across the bottom to make it look pretty.  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Penguin Quilt

This is the very first kit package that I picked up from The Quilt Patch.  I love their productions!!!  For this quilt there are 81 squares to make it and so I chose to cut 9 of the 6 inch squares from each of the 9 fabrics and then spent an agonizing afternoon figuring out how to make sure that the squares were all evenly placed.  I did it in Sodoku fashion that every row contains the same colors, but in different layouts.  Once the Sodoku part was solved I sewed all of the blocks together (my family was under the strictest rules to not move or in any manner disturb these blocks).  Then the penguin was appliqued on, and the penguin minkee back was placed on and quilted.  My son immediately "adopted" this quilt.  This quilt is one of those items that comes out of the closet for the holidays, although it will likely be the last one back in as my son usually keeps this quilt out until spring.  Hope this inspires your own creativity...


Kathy

Pillow Pet Pillowcase # 2

This is the second pillowcase that I made for my son using the Pillow Pet fabric we got the other day.  This one matches the blanket that we cut out of the polar fleece fabric the other day, and also comes in a polar fleece fabric of which we got to make polar fleece pajamas from.  Stood in line at Fabricland on January 2nd just to get the pattern for $1.99.  The line up was to the back of the store and along the back wall. But, most people were pleasant so it was not too bad, and I got some extra "shopping" done as we moved slowly passed the displays (maybe that was their genius plan ;-))!!!  Hope this ispires your own creativity...

Kathy

Pillow Pet Pillowcase # 1

This is the first of the pillowcase that I made for my son using up the Pillow Pet Fabric we purchased the other day.  I used my favorite standard pillow case pattern from the Million Pillowcase Challenge web site.  Whipped this up in under 20 minutes.  These are very quick, and easy to sew and everyone loves them.  We even give birthday presents inside them so that the child gets two gifts in one.  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Pillow Pet Blanket

My son's latest collection is of Pillow Pets.  He loves anything that has to do with animals and so I got him the puppy pillow pet at Target in Montana in November as I had not seen them in Canada yet.  He then asked Santa for the dolphin one for Christmas and a last minute add on of the horse on Christmas Eve! Thanks to the Pillow Pet kiosk at Market Mall in Calgary,  Santa came through and Christmas morning there were the dolphin and horse under the tree.  He was so excited!!  I had to go to Fabricland to get velcro for my Galaxy Pad case as none of the quilt stores had any, and while we were there he found a plethora of pillow pet fabric on sale (of course with a membership - which in this case was cheaper to add on the price of the membership and get the stuff).  One of the items we got was this polar fleece panel, which has the image clearly marked through on both sides, so he did not want a backing on it.  So, a true red eye craft, lay panel on floor at midnight, cut around panel very carefully, put in dryer on hot setting to collect all loose bits.  Put on child's bed and await big smile in the morning.   Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Stamp of the Month Club

This is the most current Stamp of the Month.  This stamp set is called Fruit & Flowers and I have been waiting patiently to get it for a while.  I think that there are so many possibilities with it, especially come jam season next August.  The card on the left is a "view finder" card and as you spin it you will see different fruit in the display circle.  Kind of retro???  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Heart Stamp Cookies

I decided to make cookies after riding this evening.  This is what is left!!

I used the recipe for the shortbread cookies that comes with the cookie stamp as I did not want to have to refrigerate dough.  They turned out alright, although I have a problem with cookies that do not have a smooth edge (unless drop cookies).  After I took them out of the oven they looked rather plain, so I took piping gel and some red food coloring get and made a paste to outline the cookies.  Lots were already eaten by the time I got around to the icing. 

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Oh S"crap"! It's Monday...

I don't usually make New Year's resolutions because I believe that if a behavior needs to be changed or modified, one should remedy it immediately, not wait until the next calendar year.  My current project however, comes from some New Years resolutions that I saw other people post on their blogs.
The first idea is that several people showed organizing or cleaning up their craft rooms.  I was amazed at the amount of s"crap" that people have lying around.  I was once accused of being a dust chaser to which I responded that I am not, because to chase dust one would have to have it (I do not).  Looking at all of the stuff people have squirreled away in their craft rooms, made me decide that I will continue with my blog and post a project daily to continue to use my crafting supplies, and validate the existence or ownership I have of these supplies.
The second idea comes from the "generous" people who blogged about how after Christmas they take all their left over Christmas paper to various charities and "gift" it to the less fortunate.  The cynic in me wonders why the less fortunate would want Christmas paper after Christmas to craft with.  Several years ago, a colleague and myself went to a local charity in Edmonton to search for winter coats for a family with small children who had relocated to the Edmonton region for medical reasons of one of the children.  The entire family was in need of winter wear as the demands of the re-location and the sick child had taken it's tole on them.  On route to this charity I thought what a brilliant idea, I will donate my old winter coat to this place since I needed a new one as mine was not keeping me warm while I shoveled the walk.  However, on arrival I realized that everyone else (like myself) had donated their old coats which were no longer in style or like mine, the layers and liners worn out.  It dawned on me then, if I am not warm shoveling my walk in this coat, why would someone living on the street, or not able to get a warm meal at home, want my old coat??  Since then I have given money, or quilts, along with items people might actually use.  I always think of the quote from the "Sound of Music" movie when Julie Andrews describes her dress by stating "the poor didn't want this".
Now, here is my dilemma: I do not want to become one of those people with a basement full of crafting materials, and I am not about to donate it to the less fortunate just because it is taking up room in my house.  Therefore, to get rid of it I have come up with the "Oh S"crap"!  It's Monday theme.  Every Monday I will dig through my box of scrap paper and make a card using only the bits from the box.  No additional supplies can be brought into the equation.  Once I have enough of these cards, I will give these finished cards to one of the woman's charities here in Edmonton, for these women to give out as wanted, or if you have a better idea let me know.
The above card was made using only things in the box.  Although it does not look like anything particularly "top drawer" it was really difficult to find paper and scraps that would work together to come up with a card idea.  Remember, this is my first try at something like this.  But, alas, do not worry I have a whole box of paper to use up over the next year, things are bound to get better.
Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Crafting with Food!?

I was once accused by a dietitian colleague of "Crafting with Food" (as though it was a bad thing).  Well, I am going to come out of the pantry today, and admit that yes I do craft with food!  Wow, feels so liberating to finally admit that.  Today, I decided that my son needed not just ordinary muffins for his lunch tomorrow, but special ones.  So, to the back corners of the pantry where all those wonderful fun tins sit, and out came the airplane pan.  Twenty minutes later at 350 degrees we had muffins landing on the counter.  I used my favorite banana coconut muffin recipe and here it is:

Banana Coconut Muffins

1 cup mashed banana
1/3 cup canola oil   (remember I grew up in Saskatchewan.)
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 - 2  heaping tablespoons of ground flax seed (I really do hide it in everything).
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Mix together and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20 minutes.
Enjoy.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Stampin Up Transportation

Did anyone know that Stampin Up also has their own line of Coupe's and Airliners available to everyone?  I was notified of this today while preparing the recycling bag.  Apparently, one can get a roadster for everyday touring, and with a few modifications an airliner all from a simple shipment of products!  Amazing!
I am posting this as I always close with "Hope this inspires your own creativity", and here is creativity...  My son's school last year did a tribute to each child and I was so proud as the tribute to my son was that he inspired creativity in his work, play, and his classmates.  As I look at the motto on the side of the Stampin Up box I cannot help but smile; he was inspired to make these modes of  transportation from the boxes, created ways to make that happen, and now I am sharing this creativity.  Today, I encourage all of us to sometimes think inside the box, and hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Cut Once, Stamp Twice

These are another Red Eye Craft special (made at 0100 hours - why- could not sleep).  I used early espresso card stock for the base, more of the Letters to Santa Designer Series Paper (still trying to use it up - like zucchini - have to hide it in everything).  Another piece of early espresso run through the Snow Burst embossing folder.  The images are stamped on very vanilla paper.  Since it was 0100 hours I did not want to do the same project multiple times, so the one on the left the image is from the Snow Much Fun stamp set (hearts are from Merry Winter).  The card on the right has the image from the You Are Loved stamp set and I maker colored the image as I wanted to get as much detail as possible out of it.  Ribbon on the bottom is Early Espresso with Early Espresso Bakers Twine.  

Nighty, night, Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Too Much Pink!

I did a pre-order of some of the new stuff from the Stampin' Up Mini Catalogue, and it arrived today (took the same amount of time to arrive as usual, except Christmas and Boxing Day were in there - good job UPS).  I got some of this fabric (can't resist fabric), to see what it looks like.  WOW!!  It is pink, and the color of pink in real life looks like canned salmon.  I really hate pink especially this shade of pink, so I will have to get moving on getting rid of this stuff.  I decided I would run it through my Cuttlebug with Wonder Under on the back.  I used the Fun Flowers die cut and my new extended cutting pads (almost was thinking of getting a Big Shot- not necessary now).  The sack cloth towels are a Wal-mart "find".  I can only emphasize the "find" as it is a case of you get what you pay for.  The towels are very cheap, the cotton weave is very loose (no wonder they say lint free - there is no way the fibers could rub against each other to make any lint), the edges are not even, and the sewing on the seams is irregular.  I might have to start making my own sack cloth towels.  The ribbon is from the new catalogue, as is the fabric, and I simply ironed the fabric down and appliqued with my sewing machine.  If you are unfortunate privileged enough to receive one of these towels, please excuse the towel as I only appliqued on it.  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Entrelac Scarf; It's Done!!!

The great thing about being on vacation the past couple weeks in the mountains, is that I have had lots of time to get caught up on things like my knitting and cross stitch (I did not bring my sewing machine - will next year).  I finished my Entrelac scarf.  Now I know that the measure of whether or not you can knit is the old stand by comment "I can knit a scarf", this however, is not your "basic" entry level scarf.  That being said, if you do know how to knit, you really should try this scarf as the pattern is very easy to follow, and the Noro Silk Garden yarn is FABULOUS to work with.  I saw a version of this scarf done up in another color way with tassels on the ends, but it some how looked cheaply homemade, so I did not put these on mine.  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

January Quilt Calendar

This is the January block for the Count on It calendar collection by Nancy Halvorsen.  When I decided to join up late for this block of the month program last May I had good intentions to have all of these, done.  How long could they take - they are only 11 1/2" square finished size?  Well, as of today I have June, September, October and now January done.  I will try and get February done before I return to work here in the next few days.  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Mystery Quilt Fall 2011 Retreat

Back on the 25th of September I participated in the Mystery Quilt Fall 2011 Retreat in Airdrie offered by Prairie Quilt Mercantile.  What I love about this store is their approach to fabrics, as well as the beautiful patterns they design and display.  This Mystery Quilt Retreat is especially interesting as you get to pick out your fabrics a few months in advance, the ladies tell you how many fabrics you need, and you pick your favorite and then so on until you have the number of fabrics required.  They then cut these fabrics for you and organize them, and when you arrive on the retreat day, you follow the instructions along with all your pre-cut pieces and not until the very end do you know what your quilt will look like.  For a person who hates surprises I found this kind of scary, but also exhilarating (there was no way for me to get a sneak peak...).  At each table of 4 there is also someone is appointed to the pressing of seams and cutting strings, so all you have to do is sew all day.  By the end of the day your quilt top is complete.   This quilt is queen sized.  I chose a cranberry red fireside fleece for the back and it was quilted by Melinda at Sewing with Class in Stoney Plain (as are most of my quilts).  During my recent three weeks off at Christmas I was able to get the binding sewn on, and then the hand sewing of the binding done (all 368" of it - hand cramps!).   Currently it is sitting on the guest bed downstairs, as I could not quite replace it for my kaleidoscope quilt.  Now, here's the exciting news, the girls from Prairie Quilt Mercantile will be bringing their spring Mystery Quilt Retreat to Sherwood Park on the 16th of June 2012, which means I do not have to face the QE 2 highway in early spring (terrible mountain snow storms have been known to happen at that time of year) just to get my mystery quilt fix!!!  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Mystery Christmas Quilt Clue # 6

Here it is!!!  Clue # 6 is putting it all together.  Now that all of the pieces that I made are put together, and I see what it looks like, I have the option of making the quilt bigger.  I asked my son whether he wanted the quilt this way, or to make it bigger.  His answer: "go bigger".  I ordered the finishing package and it is currently occupying space on the floor of the craft room, so over the next day or two I will get it done, so that it can go to be machine quilted before I return to work next week.  Hope this inspires your own creativity...


Kathy

Hot Cocoa Anyone??? Hot Cocoa Packaging

I kept seeing these neat little packages for holding hot cocoa and such like all over the crafting world, however, apparently there is some BIG secret as to how these things are made because no one had a pattern for them, and or they were selling them as tutorials.  So, I decided how hard can it be for a brain the size of mine to make one of these?  Wasn't, and I have included my instructions (OMG I have probably broken some crafting commandment!).

First, I measured the size of the packages (I used these ones as they are made by gourmet village here in Canada).  These packages were slightly more than 6" and just over the 3" mark so I cut the length of card stock at 6 1/4".  Then I got out my best friend the Simply Scored Tool, and scored at 3 1/4", then at 4 1/4" and then cut at 7 1/2".

For the holder I took a 3" piece of card stock and scored along the bottom edge at 1".  Then I scored at 1", 2", 5 1/4", 6 1/4", and cut at 7 1/4".  I cut on all the score lines below the 1" line at the bottom, and folded all the bits in so that the bottom was smooth.  I put sticky strip on the pieces that fold around the back so that they would be secure once inside the card. 

I placed the hot cocoa packages inside and used glue dots to hold them securely.  Used more of the Letters to Santa Designer Series Paper for the front - both pieces are from that collection (still trying to get rid of it).  The frame is cut at 3" from my Cricut Philosophy cartridge.  The whole package is secured with Early Espresso Satin Quilted Ribbon!  

Now, this gift package is actually being given to a friend of my grandma's who over the years has been an aunt to us, and has put up with all of my craft attempted gifts over the years, so I needed something sewn to finish off this gift and ......

TAH DAH.  I found this fabric at Sew Divine this fall, and just had to get it.  I used the fabric to make one of my super quick Twenty Minute Table Runners.  I hope she likes it.  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

З Різдвом Христовим - Merry Christmas

;

Merry Christmas.  I know that for many of my blog faithful today is Christmas Eve, as well as for many of us here in western Canada, especially Edmonton.  For today's post I used two of the stamp sets from the Stampin Up Holiday Mini Catalogue.  The stamp set on the left is The Sounding Joy set, and the one on the right is the Forest Festivities set.  These cards are part of something I have decided to do this year called my cut once stamp twice concept.  Both of these cards use basic black card stock for the base.  The Joy card has a piece of Designer Series paper for the background, while the Present card uses whisper white (both cut the same size).  I used my Elegant Edges Cricut Cartridge to cut a 3" scallop square, but for all you Big Shots out there you can use your Big Shot for this with the 3" scallop square die.  The Joy image was stamped on very vanilla card stock and the JOY was embossed on with cherry cobbler embossing powder.  The Presents image was stamped on and colored with Stampin' Write Markers and I colored with whatever colors I felt like.  The star at the top is a puffy star that I found at Scrapbook Memories & More in Sherwood Park last spring, and the neat thing about it was you could buy it by the meter!!!  So, I put one on the top.  Now, off to finish the pyrohy my son and I made for supper.  Have a Merry Christmas, and Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Sale-a-bration Cards

Sale-a-bration is a promotion that Stampin' Up runs from end of January - March every year, and what is neat about it is that on top of the stuff you usually get with an order for every $60 Cdn you get to choose an item from the special catalogue.  I was able to get a few of these items early and decided to play with them tonight, however the problem with red eye crafting, is that pictures are hard to take - too much flash, not enough, shadows of ?gremlins....

The two cards I have here are part of my idea for this year of cut once, stamp twice.  In this case I started with soft suede card stock for the base, ran both cards through the Framed Tulips Embossing Folder.  For the card on the left I used my quilting rulers to measure 1/2" from the embossed edge and then my handled cutting blade (it is from SU, just so long ago I don't think they make one anymore), to cut out a frame.  Then I used glue dots to put in a window sheet, so that you can see the Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper.  The greeting on the front is from the You are Loved stamp set and I stamped this with White Staz On ink (leave for a week to dry - or overnight).  

The card on the right is made again with an image from the You are Loved stamp set and the image is stamped on using  Versa-mark.  Then I cut out a heart with the heart punch from the Everyday Enchantment DSP and added a small piece of pretty in pink ribbon.  Done.  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Christmas Candle - Teacher's Gift

My son decided that what he wanted to give his teacher for Christmas was a candle made by him (I helped).  We melted soy wax, used a red dye chip, and fragranced with Grand Fir, Vanilla and Peppermint oils.  It smelled delicious.  I put the wick in a medium sized metal pail (found at the M craft store) and thought this would be a great idea and presentation for the candle.  Unbeknown to me, these pails are not leak proof and in a matter of minutes we had hot wax spilling all over on to the cupboard!!!  The only thing that I had around in a hurry to salvage this, was freshly washed canning jars from the dishwasher.  In went the wax and we ended up with 2 full jars of  fresh peppermint candles.  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Poinsettia Table Runner

I picked up this table runner as a kit last winter (after Christmas) at Lori's Country Cottage in Sherwood Park.  This kit was designed by Jeri Kelly and what was really neat about the kit was that all the pieces were already die cut with the fusible applique already on the back.  It did make free motion quilting a little more difficult, but looking at it now... it was all worth it.  I think it looks great on the coffee table with a poinsettia on it.  Merry Christmas.  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Christmas Candy Corn

While in Canmore my son and I made almost daily (not a typo) trips to the candy store there.  One of the treats we got were these Christmas Candy Corn.  We ate several small packages of these while there and of course had to bring a HUGE bag home with us.  I made up these treat bags to give out as treats to some of his little friends we would be meeting up with after Christmas.  Now, I have to wait til February and next trip to the candy store, maybe they will have Valentine's Candy Corn (?).  The treat holders are made by cutting a 3 3/4" by 8 1/2" piece of card stock and folding in half.  I measured the top and divided into thirds and then cut on  to the diagonal to the corners, used a corner rounder on the edges, and then used scrap pieces of card stock in about thirds to cover the base in candy corn colors, I sponged garden green between the red and green to imitate the strip along the bottom edge.  Put the candy into treat bags and used sticky strip to secure inside and a bow of course.  The greeting is from the Forest Festivities stamp set.  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!!  I hope that so far the new year has been good to you all, and that not too many resolutions have been broken or modified yet...  For once I am ahead of the crafting deadline.  I actually completed this calendar in November of 2011.  This calendar was a class taught by Wadean at Scrapbook Memories & More in Sherwood Park.  I love this store, they really do have the best products, the staff are all helpful and friendly, and Wadean has awesome projects that she designs.  So, when I saw this one, I had to do it.  The cream areas on each page are for photo mounts, and the good thing about doing it in November was I had the time to get the photos done and put in so that today it is already on the wall.  Hope you all have a wonderful 2012, and Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy