Advent Calendar for this year

Every year one of my favorite things is to give homemade gifts to friends and neighbors. This year I made an advent calendar for this tradition. All the cuts are from Christmas Cheer and Designer Calendar.

Christmas crafting

This is a rough time of year to blog about my crafting! 95% of my crafting is for christmas gifts and the recipients all watch my blog! These are not gifts.
The first is a wall hanging of the engagement photos of my brother and newest sister-in-law. I searched and could not find a frame I liked that would accomadate the 8x10 and 2 5x7s. So I started with handmade paper from the nearby art store. I added the cardboard backs from paperpacks to stabalize it.

Using the Ornamental Iron cartridge I cut out the arches for over the pictures and the border for top and bottom.

I love how the arches accent the photos without overpowering them.

This is the final product. Loved how it turned out so decided to use the same basic idea on some hangings my aunt had asked for.

On one I used Technique Tuesday tiles for the embellishments.

They work great and come in many shapes. They take paint and inks very well.

The perfect pearls added a look of texture I was not expecting but really liked so I used an ink dabber to create a different looking texture.

For the saying I used Nursery Rhymes font and vinyl.

For this one I used a very thick ribbon that I picked up on clearance and some rub-ons from my stash.

The final wall hanging I did just because I liked the wisdom. I added 2 owls and panel from Storybook.




So, what do you think?

Set of notecards using vintage music sheets

I only used the Sophie cartridge on these, love the doily feature! I also used my cuttlebug with 4 different embossing folders.
This is just the first set. I have at least 4 more sets planned.

Art Nouveau cartridge

I have been drooling over this cartridge for months! I finally broke down and bought it. First I completed the lillies and then the swan. I really love how these turned out. The layering went together beautifully.

Busy busy busy with wedding crafts for my brother and sister-in-law's wedding....

First I want to show the display to honor a grandmother that passed. Natalie wanted something with personal touches. After bunches of searches and deliberation this is what we came up with. The fonts are lyrical letters and the hummingbird on the vase is from Art Nouveau. I purchased the frame at the dollar store and dressed it up.

She chose 2 favors for the wedding. The first is a CD of thier favorite love songs. We decorated the front covers wih the personalization.

The second favor was an etched glass votice candle holder. We used a velvet ribbon to give it a little more oomph.

Instead of using a guest book, Natalie chose to make a family tree. For the leaves we cut out hearts for people to sign and add a sentiment. Once the hub-bub has died down the leaves will be added to the tree, framed and hung in their home.

For the unity candle we etched glass for the holder. The tree was carried through and the back has their names and the date of the wedding.


We etched the bride and groom glassed and also glasses for the mothers of the bride and groom.

We also beaded wine glass charms with personal charms for each.

Sign for a vintage store.....

The owner of the FABULOUSLY FRUGALE BOUTIQUE in Irving, TX asked me to make her an open/closed sign for her shop. I had too much fun making this sign. I used the Forever Young and Nursery Rymes cartridges. Once I had the vinyl laid I added some bling for style. The vintage store owner loved the sign and swapped me 17 sheets of vintage music. Score!!!

If you are ever in the area you should drop in to her boutique. I found an absolutely adorable vintage lace skirt. I intend to use the lace on it to add to some T-shirts.

first of several post for today.... Apple butter

This is the finished product. To get to this stage I peeled, cored, and diced 10 red delicious apples.

Once they were diced into 1 inch pieces I boiled them in my favorite pot with 2-3 cups of water. As they started to soften I used a potoatoe masher to break them up even more.

Once they started to look like apple sauce I added the seasoning. My favorite combo is the same as I would use in my spicecake; allspice, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon. I do not measure my spices but add to taste. After the spicing I let it simmer until smooth.

Card for my son

My son is at AIT in Missouri. I love to send him unique cards. Our family is fanatic about Halloween so hence the theme. I used the October 31st and Simply Sweet cartridges.

What I have been up to.......

This has been a long month. Mostly I have been working on wedding stuff for Jody and Natalie. Other than wedding stuff I have done alot of canning. Each of these jars represents a different flavor of jelly I made. Wow that is alot of jelly! Next I will be decorating the jars for gifting this holiday season.


Now check out my first harvest from my garden (very loosely defined!). My poor garden has not fared this summer well. The only thing to survive has been the squash plants. 70 days over 100 has been rough!



I will be cutting into the largest one today. I plan on freezing the others for use later.



Next is a contest I entered at work. My accomplice's name is Jennifer. She works for Best Buy. The goal was to decorate a table for the Brides Maids release.



On the top of the table is a dress from the way back part of my closet, pink rose petals, plastic champagne glasses, and dvd cases.



Big tulle poofs were on the front 2 corners with flowers in the center. The flowers were cut from the Wedding cartridge and have Theresa Collins bling in the center.



I used 20 yards of tulle on these poofs but they were fun to make.



The font is from Opposites Attract. I offset a second layer and added the bling.



Another cut from Wedding. I was not really happy with how it turned out. The paper is very reflective and I got a little glue on it and could not get it off.



The shoes are from Wall Decor and More. I love how these turned out. Sometimes it is tiny details that really make the design. If you look at the heel tips I added a stripe of glitter. I think that tiny amount of glitter makes the design.



The large flowers in front are from the dollar store. I also cut out the champagne glasses from Wedding.



All said and done I think we did a great job. While I hope we win the contest, if we don't I am proud of our entry!