Coaster Calendar

After seeing Laurie's cute coaster calender, I really wanted to make one. I did CD case calendars last year, and had a blast making them for everyone that I did. But I got started a lot earlier last year, and I knew that this year I couldn't do a page for every month. So this is a close substitute. Well, maybe not close, but it's what I came up with. The chipboard I got is actually 6x6 size, so it's bigger than classic coasters, but it was really cheap at the scrapbook store the other day! The outside edges I inked with Rose Red and then mod podged to give it some shine, since I was embossing the flowers. All-in-all, I am pretty happy with how it turned out!

Shepherd's Pie Recipe

This is for another recipe swap I'm in. It's a "winter-themed" swap. I was all ready to do a blue and white snowflake layout, and I had some great paper ready to go. Then I came across this paper I had in my stash. Now, I am not a snow lover, but when I saw this paper I thought of my husband. When he was in high school, he'd go skiing every chance he could get. To a lot of people, nothing says winter like time in the snow. So I abandoned my other layout, and went with this one! This is my aunt's yummy recipe. She does add chopped up red bell peppers, but I never have those, and they never make it on my grocery list. But it is delicious with the peppers added. So, by all means, if you like red bell peppers, add some to the mix!

PageMaps Thankful Contest

This is what I've been working on the past few days! I finally finished late last night, but waited until this morning to try to get a decent picture when the sun was up. I love using PageMaps sketches. If you like to scrapbook, they have some awesome sketches. A few days ago, I wanted to find a new sketch so I went to their website. Then I found the PageMaps Blog!!! The challenge posted was to incorporate the above sketch and use it to show something that you are thankful for. I've been wanting to use this picture with my grandmother for a long time. But sometimes I find I'm reluctant to do one-page layouts. I like how two-pagers create a continuity throughout my scrapbook. The two-pagers always take me a lot longer, though. So sometimes my scrapbook doesn't get a lot of new additions. So, my new decision is to do one-page layouts as well as two-page layouts, and make sure I'm actually adding to my scrapbooks!

Christmas Journal

Chris' blog talked about doing a journal of your family's 25 days of Christmas! I thought it was an awesome idea! I didn't know what size to do, and finally settled on 6x6. I've made little albums in that size for my kids, and they seem to love them. So that's what I went with. You really have to visit Chris' blog. She gives all the details of where she found details on doing a project like this! I loved reading about it all. The idea is to have the basic journal ready to go before December 1st, so that all you have to do is add pictures. Well, I didn't get that done, but I loved the idea, so I'm trying to keep up with it anyway. Christmas is such a magical time, and I think to have a day-by-day journal of a whole month will be really fun!

Basketball Coach

This card uses today's sketch challenge at Split Coast Stampers. I needed to make a quick card for my son's basketball coach since tonight is their last game. I thought this sketch would be perfect because I knew I had this fun basketball paper from a previous project. The coach is a lady, and I was going to add ribbon, but I couldn't figure out where to put it, so I left it off.

Upsy Daisy Candle

I love experimenting with new ways to use my stamps. I know this technique has been around for a long time, but I've never been daring enough to try it. You know, I wouldn't want to ruin a candle purchased from the dollar store if something goes wrong!!! Now that it's December, and the peak of gift-giving season, I decided it was time to try this technique. So I got my dollar store candle, tissue paper, wax paper, and one of my favorite Stampin' Up stamps: Upsy Daisy. Since this was my first attempt, I don't feel too bad that I didn't hold the wax paper as tight as I should have, and didn't melt the wax paper enough in some places. I am happy with how things went for a first attempt. I'm going to try again, and have on my oven mitt, I think. Things get pretty hot when the embossing gun is in full swing. Also, I'm not really crazy about the ribbon at the bottom, but when I took it off and went to take another picture, my batteries went dead on the camera. So I'm leaving it alone. I'm definitely going to be experimenting more with stamping on candles in the future. There is a great step-by-step tutorial on Split Coast Stampers if you are interested in trying this out yourself.

Magnet Board

I have had this magnet board for a long time. A while back I stamped it with blue flowers, but didn't let the craft ink dry properly, and there were a lot of places where it smudged. But I used it anyway. Well, the other day I decided to redo the magnet board. Now that I've got my Rose Red ink, I thought it would be pretty to use the rose red along with some blue ink. I wanted to emboss the flowers also. I had a frame that I embossed a few flowers on the other day for my daughter, but the frame was totally flat without any edges. It was easier to do, because I could slide the embossing powder right off of the frame. That didn't work very well on this magnet board, so I decided to just stamp it and leave it alone.

Always Believe

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a terrific day with family. I can't believe that now is time to really get ready for Christmas, though! I was feeling very festive this morning and wanted to get all of our Christmas decorations up, but unfortunately I couldn't find most of them. So I decided to distract myself and do some stamping. I love this Santa stamp from Rubber Stampede. I couldn't wait to make a Christmas card with it. I used some shiny silver cardstock (which really looks white in the picture), and love the way that it looks! I want to make quite a few of these cards. I love the magic of the holidays, and the joy in giving gifts, and I love that to my children it's still such a magical time.

Thankful for Teachers

I feel so very lucky. Each year of school, my son has had an amazing teacher! He loves school, and I know that his wonderful teachers have been a huge part of him enjoying school so much. This is the treat we made for him to give his teacher and bus driver today. I found this cool tutorial by Julie Case. I loved the idea, and it was simple, which I wanted. The main thing that I changed was the width of paper. On her tutorial she cuts the paper 3 inches wide and uses snack-size M&M bags. Well, I didn't have snack-size M&M bags, so I was planning on using some of my treat bags from Wal-mart filled with chocolate instead. And those are exactly 3 inches wide, and I didn't want to see any plastic hanging out the side. So I cut mine a little wider. I love the saying from this Stampin' Up set: happy Thanksgiving, happy fall, happy blessings, to one and all. I think it's the perfect saying to sum up how I was feeling as I was making this for his teacher. I am blessed in so many ways, and I have so much to be thankful for.

Thankful for Friends

This is a super fun card that my friend sent to me. Back before she got a cricut for her birthday, I had lent mine to her for a few days so she could get some projects done. This was the thank you card she made. I absolutely loved it! I love pink, and the punch that makes things look like they came from a notebook. It's such a sweet card, and it really made me feel special. I hope everyone is looking forward to having a wonderful Thanksgiving week!

Mojo Saturday?

Well, it's been a busy week again this week. I didn't get around to any sketches yet, so today I finally made some time to use the Mojo Monday sketch. The snowman stamp is from a cute little set I found at Wal-mart, and the sentiment is Studio G. I don't have a cool scallop punch, so I just used my old, OLD decorative scissors to add an edge. Now I'm off to enjoy the rest of Rivalry Weekend and college football for the rest of the day!

Steelers Are Victorious Versus Bengals

Oh, how it pains me! I have a brother loves the Steelers, and I love the Bengals. They played last night, and things didn't turn out in my favor. I can't stand losing to him!!! But I had to make him a victory card. Last year I made him a card as soon as the Steelers lost in the playoffs, so I figured I'd be a little nicer this year. I realize the picture is really crooked, but the card's not; just blame it on my photography skills!

Embossing Resist

I've read about a technique called "embossing resist" and decided to give it a try today. I had been eager to try it, but a key element is versamark, which I didn't have yet. I was going to try this while my mom was here, and then we ran out of time. So basically, the technique is that you use versamark rather than colored ink on a stamp. Top the versamark with clear embossing powder. Emboss as usual, and then sponge ink over the paper. The places where you embossed "resist" the ink. I think it's a neat look. And perfect to try out with my Snowflakes Roller. So I washed out a used frosting container, and measured the paper to fit. Then I did the embossing resist technique, and glued the paper on tight. I added some ribbon at the top. My mom has a really cool ribbon shredder, similar to one pictured here, but I don't have one. I wanted the ribbon smaller, so I tried to do it by hand, and my ribbon looks pretty funny! To finish the project off, I stamped a cute little tag from a set I found at Wal-Mart, and I have a little container to give away once I fill it with holiday candy! If you've never tried this technique and are interested, there is a more thorough tutorial here.

Easy Christmas Card

I found this beautiful card at SplitCoast, and knew I would have to case it. I loved it! This snowflake roller from Stampin' Up is a dream come true! I love how it looks, and because it's a roller, you can make a card in no time at all. The thing that took me the longest on this entire card was to distress the paper! No, it was drying the ink that I added to the snowflake brads. I had these plain white snowflake brads that I wanted to use, but the white just needed a lift. So I covered them with my craft ink, and then dried them with my embossing heat gun. It's such a useful tool. I think that I'll be making a bundle of these to have on hand for the upcoming season!

Sympathy Card

I spent most of the day yesterday helping with a funeral dinner at church. At the end of the day I felt exhausted physically and emotionally. I always come home from a funeral and hug my kids extra tight and let my husband know I don't want to live one day without him! This was the card I made for some members of the family. I hope the pink isn't too bright. While I know funerals can be such solemn occasions, I don't want to make a card that leaves someone feeling dreary either.