Happy Thanksgiving!

To each and everyone of you I would like to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. I am thankful for so many blessings in my life, but mostly grateful to share those blessings with family and friends.

This one takes the cake!

What a fun way to give an ordinary gift card! The base of the "cake" is a pre-made box purchased in the craft store. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. I covered it with paper, ribbons and buttons. On the lid I added lots of glitter and the flower shapes are from those "Dazzling Die Cuts". The cake stand was assembed from pieces of cardboard and styrofoam also covered in paper, cardstock and ribbons. The large pink scallops were punched out from one of the dazzling die cut sheets, and glued on. How easy is that! Once everything was decorated I attached it all together with a hot glue gun. The birthday girl simply lifted the lid of the "cake" to reveal a gift card and yummy chocolates.

Here's the birthday girl with my daughter after receiving her cake!

New Checkbook Cover

Tis' the Season for shopping, and my checkbook cover needed an update. I made one a few years back and it was really looking rough. So I made a new one using some current products from Close To My Heart. It's so nice and pretty now, maybe writing checks will be more fun.... yeah right!

Happy Fall

Just a simple card for Fall. I'm trying to get into the spirit of the season, but the weather is not cooperating at all. It's been so warm here lately that I can't believe we'll be eating Turkey Dinner next week.

The pumpkin on this card is from the October Word Puzzle stamp and I embossed the background with the pumpkin vine cuttlebug embossing folder.

I will have more fun artwork to post very soon. I have been working hard, but unfortunately was not able to "reveal" the cool gift until the Birthday Girl receives it first!

December Word Puzzle Pages

These are the Word Puzzle pages for December. I can't believe we've reached the end of the year and the end of our Word Puzzle Club. For these Holiday pages I pulled in non-traditional "Christmas" colors. I got the inspiration from the Reflections book and from a page I did in my own scrapbook last year.

We always receive such lovely cards and photo's from friends and family that I would hate to lose. So my remedy was to create a page with a large pocket to hold all of those precious cards and pics. I especially love the photo postcards. Last year we had some that pictured the year in review, photo's in front of the Christmas tree, kids on quads and silly faces too! Can't wait to see what we receive this year. These are the memories that make my heart happy and I want to preserve them for years to come.

The title was made using the Friendship Alphabet. The snowflake is a Martha Stewart punch, and the scallop border is a Fiskars punch. All other items are Close To My Heart.

Hinges aren't just for opening tabs or photo's. You can use them as an embellishment with brads or you can even string thread or ribbon through the openings too!

Club members will also get to make these simple cards to fill their pockets.

Love and Praise

I had some scraps left over from another project I was working on so I decided to get out September's Stamp of the Month again. It's a beautiful stamp set and I did not have the opportunity to fully explore with it. I used more of the new colors too, there just so nice and soft for Autumn. The phrase is from Treasure Life also, but would you believe the bird is from a Christmas stamp; Festive Frills. I added some layers and fun embellishments, not bad for using some left over papers.

Festive Frills

Festive Frills was my first "must-have" holiday stamp from the current Idea Book. This card features the wreath and is layered with lots of dimension. Enjoy!

Out of the "gift" box!

Just a fun card I made while thinking out-of-the box. I wanted to create a Christmas card with non-traditional paper and stamps. The paper I used is actually from Perfect Day Simply Snapshots (close to my heart). With some clever cutting you can use these papers on a card base. The sassy shopper is from a stamp set that was a promotion a couple months back. I simply stamped her and did some paper piecing to achieve the differently wrapped packages. I added some scallopping and ribbon. The final touch was the sentiment of course. It's one of my favorite lines, from one of my favorite Christmas stories, The Grinch! Try using a non-traditional Christmas stamp or papers for one of your Holiday projects.

Tin O' Tiny Ornaments

I found these paint cans at my local hardware store for .99 cents. I used CTMH Evensong papers to cover the outside and the lid. Then using a Martha Stewart snowflake punch and red Stickles I decorated all around the outside. The tag was made using the December Word Puzzle stamp set. The scallop ornament was made with a punch, some floss and a small button. On the frame I simply left an opening at the top of the cardstock and texture paper so that a photo can easily be slipped through the top. Another snowflake and some ribbon and you have a great little personalized ornament for your tree. The ornaments fit perfectly inside the tin so that you can keep it safe all year round or give the entire package as a gift to someone special.

Dazzling Die Cuts!

Close To My Heart is having a dazzling promotion this month! I already showed you some Halloween cards I created using some of the die-cuts as well as the dimensional elements. They are very easy to use and come in an array of colors. I will be creating more projects with them and posting here soon. Here is a picture of the 6 available packages and what you get inside.

Please contact me for pricing and more information. In the meantime, I have some creating to do!

Sticky Pretzels

As promised a fun treat to make for any occasion, but made especially fun on the holidays! I call them sticky pretzels, but they are also referred to as Turtle Pretzels. Here are pictures of me and my daughter making some before Halloween.

These are really simple to make. I found these bat and pumpkin pretzels at Walmart. I lined a cookie sheet with foil, coat with non-stick spray and arrange pretzels 1" apart. Top each pretzel with a caramel. Bake in 300` oven for 5-8 minutes, just until caramels begin to melt.



Remove cookie sheet from oven and spoon about 1 tsp. melted chocolate onto each caramel. Immediately press 1 pecan half onto each pretzel. Place cookie sheet in freezer until candy is set, about 10 minutes.





Ingredients:
24 small pretzels
24 unwrapped caramels
3/4 cup milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
24 pecan halves (you can toast them if you like)


Recipe modified from Foodgeeks.com