Xmas Swap Ornaments

Catherine also dropped off the Xmas ornaments from the swap that we did last week that I couldn't make it over to. I got one of her ornaments and one of Kim's, as they each made two ornaments. Thanks so much girls, they'll go on my tree as soon as I put it up! :) Sorry about the horrible shadows in the pictures to follow...I really need to take a photography course! lol :)

This first ornament was made by Kim Prince. She alternated golf embossing on the pieces. This one shows a golf embossed star. Very pretty!
This is a gold embossed pointsettia. Gotta love those stamps! Just gorgeous! :)

Here's an angle shot to show you the shape and the pretty gold snowflake embellie that Kim added.

This ornament was made by Catherine Levy. Same style, but with some different beautiful Xmas papers.

Here's an angle shot to show you what it looks like from the top. Very cute! Thanks again so much, girls!

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Xmas has come early!

My friend, Catherine stopped by today and totally made my day. It's like Xmas has come early! We still all have the flu here, so she just met me at the door as I was looking by best, I'm sure! lol :) I won her recent blog candy giveaway and her hubby also made me an awesome ink pad holder to house my stray ink pads. I love it! Thanks so much, Ben! You rock! :) And, thank you so much, Catherine, for all the yummy stamps and embellies. I'll have fun playing with them, too! :)

Check out the ink pad holder that Ben made me! Yippee! :) He designed and made it himself - such a talented guy! He's always making Catherine something cool for her crafty area.

Here it is all settled in to it's new home, filled with my stray ink pads. These, along with my set of 12 ink pads beside it are all the large ink pads that I have. All the rest of my ink are in the small ink spot version, so I keep them all in a plastic tub.

OK, I'm now ashamed to say that Catherine brought these over to me a while ago, and I thought I posted them, but alas my memory escaped me and I forgot to. I'm so sorry, Catherine, but I really do appreciate your thoughtfulness! Thanks again! :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Teacher's Daily Journal Xmas Gift

This is the Xmas gift that I put together for my daughter's teachers this year. I actually made three complete sets of what you're going to see pictured below, so I've been a busy gal the past couple of days. It was a fun project, though and I have to thank Nichole Heady of PaperTrey Ink for the wonderful idea, as I saw it on her blog. She has a template for the alphabet collage that you see on the jar label that I made. As well as a download for the 4 pages of questions that you print off and then cut out and curl for inside the jar. You can read all the questions by downloading the file. I thought this was a great idea and I hope that the teachers like it, too. :)

Above is a picture of the full basket of goodies.

This is the jar that holds all the daily journal questions. I cut them all with my paper trimmer, then curled them all with a pair of scissors like you would with curly ribbon on a present.
Side angle of the jar to show you how I made the label band for the jar.

This is the journal that I altered for the daily entries.

This is a set of 6 notecards with envelopes that I altered a little, as well and tied a piece of satin ribbon around them to keep them together.

This is a little card that explains the whole gift.

A close up of the explanation card so you can read it better.

This a little notebook with attached pen that I altered a little, as well.

For the journal, notecards and notebook, I bought them all at Michaels and just altered them slightly to go along with the 'apple' theme. A pretty quick alter, but effective. :) Sorry for some of the poor pics. The notebook has a glossy finish to it so the flash kept getting caught in the pic. Also, for the Explanation Note card that explains the gift, I had it printed off on a laser printer so it's nice and clear, it's just my photography that's making it look like the printer is running out of ink...in real life it doesn't look like that, it's just the flash again. lol :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Supplies:
Stamps: A is for Apple (Studio G), To Teach is to Touch a Life Forever (Anita's - Sugarloaf Inc.)
Ink: Ruby Red (SU), Vintage Sepia (VersaFine)
Cardstock: Rid Riding Hood (SU), Chocolate Brown (Bazzill), Ivory (Staples), White (Staples)
Tools: Oval Custom Cutting System (Creative Memories), 1" & 1 1/4" Circle Punches (Creative Memories)
Embellishments: Chocolate Brown Satin Ribbon (Michaels), Ivory Jumbo Brads (Dollarama), Glass Jar (Dollarama), Vintage Red Apples Rub-On (Designed by Mary McLean - Royal & Langnickle Brush Mtg. - Michaels), Pine Apple Basket with handle (Michaels), Matching Baroque Journal, Notebook with pen and set of Notecards (Laura Ashley - Michaels), Snowman Xmas Ornament (Dollarama)

Xmas Card from Tracy

I received my first Xmas card of the season today from my friend, Tracy Houghton. I absolutely love it and so does my youngest daughter who loves penguins. Thanks so much, Tracy, you made my day! :)

We've been battling the flu here in the house since Thursday night. It certainly hasn't been a fun few days for my kids with high fevers and the not so nice stuff that comes with the flu. I thought they were done with it today, but the fevers have hit again tonight with my oldest daughter. Man, I hope it's gone in the morning. Fingers crossed.

In my next post, I have a fun project to share with you that I've been busy making over the past couple of days for my daughter's teachers. Stay tuned...

Thanks fort stoppin' by! :)

Rudolph Treat Bags

My daughters attended their Sparks (Girl Guides) Xmas party on Monday night and they each made one of these cute little Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer bags using a simple lunch bag. After the girls were all done making their reindeer treat bags, the leaders filled them with a few goodies for them to take home such as candy canes, Xmas pencils, chocolates and little candies.

I thought this was a super cute idea and the girls had so much fun making them that I thought I'd share a pic just in case anyone out there was looking for an easy craft to make with their kids or group they belong to. There's a bit of scissor work involved with the antlers, hair and smile but the leaders pre-cut them beforehand to save the kids from cutting them out because of time restraints.

Hope your little ones have fun making one of these as they await the countdown to the real Rudolph! :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Star Xmas Ornaments

So, these are super easy stars to make. I used a tutorial by Cindy (aka HappyStamper) , you can see the tutorial here. The star above is the star Xmas ornament that I made for the Xmas ornament swap that I'm doing with a group of friends. Unfortunately, I had to miss our get-together tonight...Boo! Hoo! :( But, I sent along my ornament with Catherine so that I could still participate. Deborah is taking pictures of all the ornaments so I can see what everyone else made. I talked to them on the phone and it sounds like I'm missing a fun night with lots of cool projects...the suspense is killing me! lol :) I'll post a pic of the ornament that I got from the swap as soon as I get it.

Full view with the silver string.
I did add one thing to the my stars. I wanted the insides of the star points to be joined closer, so I added a little paper clip to join each of the two adjoining points. Does that make sense? Anyway, you can't see them from the front, so just place your ornament on the tree so that it doesn't swing around and you won't have to look at the paper clips. This just seemed to give my stars a better shape. lol :)
This was attempt number one at the star using another piece of patterned paper from the same set of retired SU paper. I liked the colour combo on this one, except that when I scored my paper using this paper, it nearly cut it in half (see the star point to the right of the bottom-center point.

Full view with the gold string.
This is the back of the second star.

In my next post, I have a cute little project to share with you that you can do with your kids, so stay tuned. :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Supplies:
Stamps: Snowflake (StampCraft)
Patterned Paper: Holiday Double-Sided Designer Series Paper (SU-Retired)
Cardstock: White Flat (Staples), Blue Bayou, Groovy Guava & Purely Pomegranate (SU)
Ink: Soft Sky (SU)
Tools: Stapler, Scissors, Glue Dot (SU), 1 1/4" & 1 1/2" Circle Punches (Creative Memories), Silent Setter
Embellishment: Blue Bling Brad, gold & silver string (Dollarama), Silver & Gold Eyelets

Cheerful Snowman

I've been busy lately with a Xmas ornament project that I can't share with you until Wed night as it's for a swap with a bunch of friends and we always wait to post our project until after our get-together just to keep them a surprise. So, you'll be able to see it tomorrow night. :)

For now, I have this cute little snowman card to share with you. I'm kinda on a pink kick lately apparently, seeing as my last card was the same colours, as well! I'll have to use some different colours for my next project.

Here's a close up of this cute little snowman. Anyone want to save me looking up what SU stamp set this guys is from and leave me a comment? lol :)
Well, this is a quick post before I head off to work. Supper has been cooking in the slow cooker today and smells delish. I hope it tastes as good as it smells! lol :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Supplies:
Stamps: Snowman (SU) (not sure what set this snowman is from...I got it as a single stamp from a friend and I haven't had a chance to go through the catty to see what set it belongs to.) Cardstock: Purely Pomegranate & Pink Pirouette (SU), White Flat (Staples), 90 lb. White Watercolor Paper (Canson)
Watercolor Wonder Crayons: Brocade Blue, Night of Navy (SU)
Ink: Basic Black (SU), Jet Black (StazOn), Creamy Caramel (SU), Pumpkin Pie (SU)
Tools: Cuttlebug, Snowflakes Embossing Folder, Aqua Painter (SU), 1/8" Dimensional Squares (EK Success)
Embellishments: Striped Ribbon (Michaels)