Gnome Sweet Gnome

I got the Gnome Sweet Gnome set in my shipment the other day, and decided I better do something with it.  Now a gnome needs to live in a tree, so I used up left over Frostwood Lodge Designer Series Paper to make the tree base, and the baby needs to be in there, so I made him, and her a little hatch to live in comfort in their trees.  The gnomes are colored with Stampin Write Markers and because they are known for their fashion sense I colored them with every color I liked.  I love to color.  Now, I am not the crazy gnome lady, however, I do have the Travelocity Gnome at work (given to me by a student a year ago because I frequently sing the "Gotta Get Outta Here" tune at work, and the Saskatchewan Rough Rider Gnome is a must for every Saskatchewaner - yes he lives in my house, I dare not put him outside, 1 in 3 people living in Alberta is from Saskatchewan)!  Now, off to see if i-tunes has yet to get either Green is the Color or Rider Pride on it, and if not I will just listen to it on  www.riderville.com/page/audio.  GO RIDERS GO!!!   Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

High Tech Quilting

My husband is always very diligent about making sure that I have the latest technology gadgets, even though I am not always that good with these devices!  This year was no exception, as my phone has a small screen, and is too slow to load some web pages (redeyecrafts.blogspot.com), and my I- pod touch only has Wi-Fi, and there is not usually a hotspot in horse riding arenas, or the other places I sit while my son participates in extra curricular activities it was decided I needed something with portable internet capability.  So, I now have a Galaxy Pad (using it now - have learned to use the flash)!  Of course, it needs a cover, so I made one this evening out of some fat quarters in my stash (fabric - not cookie).  I think it is pretty, and this is my first post using the Galaxy Pad.  Seems to work well so far including taking the picture with it!  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Felt Gift Card Holders

I made these felt gift card holders for Christmas for the few gift card presents I had to give out. 

For this gift card I used a white piece of felt cut 2 3/4" wide by 7" long, folded in half, and used a blanket stitch around the edges, using 2 strands of White Baker's Twine.  The felt wreath sewn on is from the Winter Wishes Stitched Felt in the Stampin Up Holiday Mini Catalogue.  

This gift card holder was probably the easiest as I used the Winter Wishes Mittens string as the string for the gift card holder to hang from!  Again, stitching along the edge is with 2 strands of White Baker's Twine.  By now, my son was wanting to help, so he has now started to practice the blanket stitch.

The last gift card holder, has the most work put into it.  For this one I used green felt and my Stocking Accents die and ran it through my Cuttlebug (shhhhh..... this thing has not disappointed me and has cut what ever I managed to shove into it).  I used my Husquvarna sewing machine to stitch the tree down (again an awesome machine - no cleaning in 3 years + and sews what ever I decide to feed through it too - I like to experiment).  Then because the tree looked blah, I decided to put on beads which I did.  Finally, used 2 strands White Baker's Twine to blanket stitch around the edges and create a hanger.  Seven year old child helped with sewing again. 

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

B-I-N-G-O

I think I got this Letters to Santa Designer Series Paper last fall in a buy three get one free promotion (at least I hope it was free and I did not exchange currency for it).  I am just not a fan of this paper.  So, late last night I decided it was time to craft it up and get rid of it!!  As I looked at the Bingo cards, I thought who would use this???  Then, I decided I would!!  Now, the irony to this is: I HATE BINGO.  I cut the BINGO cards out then adhered to matching card stock (real read, old olive, blushing bride, and early expresso).  I then used self laminating sheets over the cards so that they will endure small hands playing with them.  Then I cut 24 1" circles in the corresponding colors and self laminated them again.  As for the calling numbers and letters I used the 1 1/2" scallop punch to punch out 24 of each of the letters "H" "J" "O" "L" "L" and "Y" and on the back of each of these 24 letters stamped the  25 & Counting stamp set.  The numbers were punched out with the 1" square punch and adhered to the reverse of the letters, and then the letter and number combos were self laminated.  I made a folder from early espresso card stock and more of the Letters to Santa DSP and then put the cards in a plastic bag (used White Staz On ink and the snow flake from Bright Hopes to decorate the bags), the callers numbers/letters in another and the markers in another bag.  All of the bags are stuck inside the folder with velcro dots.  The raccoon image on the front is from last years Merry Crittermas stamp set (OMG - I used last year's stamp set).  Now, off to play BINGO with my son.  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Glitter Christmas

I made this card in November at Karina's Coffee Talk.  The card is pretty straight forward, but it is the bottom portion that makes this card "Top Drawer".  The bottom portion of this card is made using the double sided sticky sheets from Stampin Up.  A layer of lace (polyester - not cotton) is placed over one side of the sticky sheet and then glitter poured over.  Pat all of this down then remove the lace carefully.  The remaining exposed sticky surface gets another layer of glitter on it.  Pat this glitter down as well, and TAH DAH!!!  When I made this card I knew that there was only one person who could fully appreciate this card, and that is my grandmother - the woman who LOVES glitter.  Hope this inspires your own creativity...


Kathy

Christmas Gift Tags

While wrapping presents the other evening I decided that I should have at least some home made gift tags to go on my purchased and home made Christmas presents.  However, it was 2235 hours and I was tired, so I thought about how I could make quick and easy tags.  A look in my cupboard found the Warmest of Wishes Stamp set from the Holiday Mini (one of the things I love about being a hobbyist is that I can get all of this stuff without having to host a party - heehehehehehee).  So I opened up the package, used garden green and stamped the image on a piece of whisper white card stock that I had scored at 2.5" with my Simply Scored tool.  I then used the label punch to punch these out being careful not to go through both layers at the edge, then used a piece of white bakers twine through the center to make the hanger.  I used the tree from the Jolly Bingo Bits set on the inside as none of my to and from labels fit inside this (hmmmmmm - might have to invest in some of these).  Now, what do these look like on the presents?   Well, unfortunately, I forgot to photo the tags on the presents prior to putting the presents in the box for the post (DOH!).  Hope this inspires your own creativity...


Kathy

Merry Rocky Mountain Christmas

I have always dreamed of having the "perfect" magical Christmas.  Over the years I have tried all kinds Christmasy things with our son to try and create those kind of Christmas memories for him.  I think that this year I may have succeeded.  We are fortunate to live in Alberta only about 3 hours from those magnificent Rocky Mountains that people from all over the world come to see.  We have spent the past week just outside of Banff, very close to Canmore in a wonderful resort with Chalets.  Over the past week we have climbed up the surrounding mountains in a perfect snow fall (big, fat, white snow flakes), gone skiing at Nakiska, skated in an outside rink under the shadow of the Three Sisters at the resort and downtown Canmore, and visited all the wonderful little shops in Canmore and Banff.  I will show some of the wonderful treats I found at my favorite stores over the next few days.  The gingerbread house above, comes from a box, however, it was the best I could do with not being at home.   We have had the "best" time here, and have decided that we will do this again next year to start a family tradition for our son and have a "magical"Christmas every year.  Merry Christmas and Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy