Christmas Is Coming!!!

I LOVE Christmas.  I love the food, the music, the crafts, and everything that is the "feel" of Christmas.  It is with great joy when the last weekend of November rolls around and I can open up that closet downstairs and let all the Christmas stuff pour out.  Every year when I do this I am almost like a kid at Christmas because my most favorite things are in those boxes and from mid January till end of November they sit all lonesome in the closet waiting to be let out.  This is one of those items.  It is a pillow that I purchased as a kit from The Quilt Patch last summer when I was in Moose Jaw.  I sewed and quilted it and then my son stuffed it with the fluff.  He takes pride in knowing that he did that!  I love everything about this pillow, the colors are my favorite red, the big rick rack, the applique and most of all THE BUTTONS.  Look at how many of those nice big chunky buttons are on it!!!  It is as cozy as it looks.  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Stamp of the Month Club

This is my most current issue of the Stamp Set of the Month Club.  I love this because the participants in this club have a couple of choices with regards to the stamp set choice and then we wait eagerly for the three cards that correspond to this set.  I will have to get some use out of this one in the next few days, however, I think with some slight modifications maybe I can do something like Karina did in the card on the left side and make some kind of buckaroo sock/boot that will extend the use of the set.  The card in the middle is a gift card holder.  I will definitely have to make some of these before the holidays are over as I don't think my extended family will appreciate all handmade gifts, so a retail gift card in an hand made card might salvage my Christmas gifting.  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Santa's New Ride

I discovered these sleighs at the dollar store the other day, and thought "what would you do with this"?  Then as I walked on it hit me (not the sleigh) what I could do with it.  I bought this sleigh for the bargain price of $1.25 plus GST.  Brought it home and sanded all the edges down.  Traced out both sides of the sleigh, cut out the pieces and Mod Podged them down, and then covered again with a layer of Mod Podge.  Once all was dry (2 days later - used too much AGAIN), I used the walnut distress ink to cover all the exposed wood surfaces.  This took a few coats and in some places the ink did not stain the same.  Once all was dry I sanded down all the edges of paper, touched it up with a little more distress ink and TAH DAH!!!!   Now what to do with it???  Why, you can make a batch of chocolate bark or something else tasty, and give it to a friend for Christmas!!!  For this I melted a large block of Bernard Callebaut white chocolate and then added crushed candy canes.  Mmmmmm, tasty.   Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Vintage Christmas Frame

I made this frame a couple of weeks ago at a class offered by my favorite scrapbook instructor Wadean, at my favorite scrapbook store Scrapbook Memories & More in Sherwood Park.  We started with a pre-made fibre board frame (I will be making another one of these and will show all products in more detail later), used Mod Podge and torn bits of 2 pieces of paper.  The center is 12 x 12 and the first layer of paper was well secured to a piece of thin cardboard.  It took 4 full sheets of the designer paper to make this project as most of the layers are at least one thickness high.  We used foam dots to elevate the centers of the big pieces, and a product called Scrapdots (a silicone - glue) to raise the smaller pieces.  Ribbon was tied to make a pretty bow, and crackle gloss over the lists to "age" it, and lots of Stickles, and Crystal Effects to make the Christmas Tree shine!  Once the frame was dry (3 days later for me as I likely used toooooo much Mod Podge) the whole frame was inked with Tim Holtz Walnut Distress Ink (again took 3 days to dry as I may have overdone this too).  I think it is beautiful and simply looks awesome next to the Red Eye!  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Dazzling Details Santa

I bought this plaster Santa to paint because I thought it was perfect for Christmas.  When I started to paint it, I decided that I would add Dazzling Details to the paint, so that Santa's coat would sparkle!  Somehow, the paint "ate" the sparkle and I ended up with a red coat.  After Santa was all dry, I put Dazzling Details on my finger and rubbed it all over the red parts of his coat and now it sparkles.  It's hard to see, but it really is pretty.  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Pumpkin Chip Muffins

I LOVE to bake (crafting with food)!!!  My son's lunch always has home baked goods, as I do not like all the processing and stuff added to store bought ones.  My husband and son recently cut up a pumpkin and the insides of the pumpkin were scooped out and cut up.  Today I steamed and mashed the pumpkin and made muffins.  Forty eight in total!!  Should be good for a few days of lunches.  This is the recipe that I used to make the muffins, it is a recipe that I have changed and adapted over time in an attempt to make it more healthy:


Pumpkin Chip Muffins

4 eggs

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 cups cooked pumpkin

1/2 cup canola oil

1/3 cup ground flax seed

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 cups chocolate chips

Cream together eggs and sugar.  Add pumpkin, canola oil and flax seed.  Mix in flours, soda, powder and cinnamon.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes.    Makes 24 muffins.  Enjoy.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Christmas Paper Ornaments

Okay, so now that the cookies were baked I could focus on the task of the ornaments.  Hmmm, what to do at 2200 hours that would not require all night.  As I was flipping through a pack of paper that I bought a while back (thought organizing the craft room might help come up with an idea) I found 2 of these sheets of paper.  I took my 1 3/4 inch Stampin Up scallop punch and measured it against these trees and it fit!!!  So, I punched out a bunch of these circles, used the simply scored tool to fold the circles in half, alternated front and back sides, used lots of sticky strip and some hemp twine and made these little Christmas balls for the tree.  My son thought they were great and took them to school yesterday morning.  After school I found out that the tree had not arrived, so decorating will be on Monday.  Now, that I have a whole weekend to work on this, I might be able to come up with some really cool ornaments!!!  The challenge is on.  Hope this inspires your own creativity...


Kathy