Paper Sweeties December Challenge

Join us for the Paper Sweeties December Color Challenge!  Here are the colors:

Okay, I have to admit, when I first saw these colors I thought, "I'm not sure I can do this!"  They're just not my go-to colors.  Then I got to thinking about all the cool retro papers and images from Graphics Market (who will be joining us for Visions of Sugarplums) and then I thought, "Oh, yeah!  I can do this!"

 I stamped these oh, so sweet snowflakes from the new stamp set Thanks Snow Much.  I love the size of the snowflakes and they have little tiny dies!  Look at the pretty script and ornamental divider from Noel and Vintage Holiday Postcards - all new sets for December.

What's inside the pretty packaging to deck the halls?  Little tiny snowflake ornaments that I will be showing on the first day of Visions of Sugarplums.  

Paper Sweeties Big News

Paper Sweeties is hosting a GIVE BACK CONTEST.  Visit the Paper Sweeties Blog during the month of December and comment on the blog posts.  One lucky commenter will win a $100 SHOPPING SPREE! Share the GIVE BACK CONTEST with your friends - when they comment letting us know they heard about Paper Sweeties from YOU, you will earn an extra chance to win!  Enter as many times as you want - the more you visit and comment, the more chances you have to win big!  Winner will be announced January 1, 2014.  Good luck!

You will want to see all the color challenge inspiration!  Visit the following blogs:

 Debbie Marcinkiewicz - Paper Sweeties

  Jeanne Jachna

 Kristi Schurr

 Maria Patrick

 Michelle Bala

Pattie Goldman

                                                        Tammy Hobbs

Come back Monday for Visions of Sugarplums - awesome Christmas ideas and giveaways every day!  You don't want to miss it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is almost here!  We picked up our fresh turkey last night and started the dry brine.  Tomorrow the kitchen will be buzzing and the house will smell so yummy!  Fresh rolls, pumpkin pie, pecan pie...

We've done all the cleaning and have all the rooms ready.  Now they just need to be filled with people!

I am so blessed with my wonderful family - so thrilled that we'll all be together.  Dennis and I pour all our love into cooking and creating a wonderful Thanksgiving for all of us to enjoy.

These cuties are my place cards for this year.  I have the originals of both of these and I am so glad I found them!

Isn't this acorn box fun?   I just love it and it went together beautifully.  You can find it at SVGCuts.  Also from SVGCuts is this cute s'more box:

You may be like Dennis and are wondering what a porcupine has to do with a s'more. 

 It's just one of those things, I told him.  I have a cute box and I have a cute porcupine and besides something has to hold the sign!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and come right back here on Monday!  Monday is the first day of Visions of Sugarplums!  Oh, boy do we have some fabulous Christmas ideas and the giveaways are spectacular!  See you then!

Lil' Turkey

I just love finding cute images!  Stumbled across this little turkey when I was looking for something else.  

Isn't is perfect for a kid's thanksgiving card?  I think it would be darling as a place card on a kids' Thanksgiving table, too.

The cute turkey and the circle sentiment are from Spring Hill Graphics.  Oh, does she have some VERY CUTE things!  

Spring Hill Graphics will be joining us for Visions of Sugarplums - you might win a cute set from the store for yourself!  I'll be showcasing another cute image of hers during VOSP.  If you would like to get an early entry for the grand prize giveaway check out the Visions of Sugarplums post here.  It all starts on  Monday, December 2nd - don't miss it!

Thanksgiving Silverware Bag

Thanksgiving brings out the tradition in us.  Vintage plates, linens that aren't quite vintage (but have been around for some time), dishes that we serve every year.  You would think it would be boring, but I look forward to it every year!   I do change the placecard holders (I'll be showing those later) and maybe the decorations on the table.

Here is another idea - how about a Thanksgiving Silverware Bag?  Nicecrane Designs has some gorgeous images to help you create for Thanksgiving.  The kids carving pumpkins is one of my favorites. 

A Little Tip

 You'll notice that the lace is added to the bottom of the muslin bag.  I have a little tip to make it easier to sew.  It's so hard to get  to the (almost) bottom of the bag with a needle.

Just stick a piece of cardstock in the bag!  

That way when you are sewing on the lace and buttons you won't pick up the back of the bag.

Aren't the leaves pretty?  They arrived the other day from Speckled Egg.  

Here's a look at the Vintage Thanksgiving Greeting Vol 3 from Nicecrane Designs.

Until November 20th all the Christmas Balls at Nicecrane Designs are 50% off!  Use code:  CHRISTMAS2013

I used a couple of the Christmas Ball images on my snowflakes which you can see here.

Visions of Sugarplums will arrive on December 2nd.  Check out this post to see how to get an early entry for the grand prize.  Nicecrane Designs is one of the sponsors of Visions of Sugarplums -  thank you, Ignacio!

Visions of Sugarplums

It's almost time!  Time for the third annual Visions of Sugarplums!  We've got visions of Christmas goodies dancing in our heads and we want to share them with you.  Santa will be coming early - we have even more giveaways this year!   

Just like previous years - every comment is an entry to win!  

Mark your calendar - Pass the word and invite your friends!  The more the merrier!  

Sweet Angel Muslin Bag

Welcome to the last day of the November Roll Out for Paper Sweeties!  Included in the new stamps and dies is this sweet angel.   I stamped her right on the bag and added a little bit of pink color.

She is part of the Make the Season Bright set.   Right now you can save if you bundle the stamps and dies!  This bag was a lot of fun to make.  

I love the lace and the snowflakes and how about this cool 3-D heart ornament made with the heart from Homespun Holidays?

It is so easy to make.  It's made just like the leaf ornaments I posted a tutorial on the other day. The only difference is that I stamped the heart on vellum with Versamark and heat embossed the image.  I really like it!

The Paper Sweeties Blog is showing more projects - check it out!

Peppermint Patty Christmas Treat Box

Do you like Peppermint Patties?  I hadn't had one in years and happened to see a bag while I was in Walgreens the other day.  I thought "Hmmm...I can do something with those and besides I want to eat one!"  So I created a Peppermint Patty Christmas Treat Box...

This is Day 3 of the November Release for Paper Sweeties.  The adorable images from Homespun Holidays are perfect for Peppermint Patty "sandwiches".  Right now, you can save on the Homespun Holidays Stamps and Dies bundle.  My "sandwiches" are two die cuts on each side of the candy, topped off with one of the images on a pop dot.

I filled up the box with Peppermint Patty Sandwiches and made a few extra for the pictures.  I'm not sure what happened to the rest...  You know I'm licking my lips while I say that! 

I think this is a gift I gave myself!  Oh, well I can also think of several people that would like this little box - but I might have to go get more Peppermint Patties!  It's a vicious cycle...

Visit the Paper Sweeties Blog for more fun November projects.  Come back tomorrow for the last day of  the November release.  See you then!

Gingerbread Men with Paper Sweeties

Gingerbread Men...Did you just smile?  Gingerbread Men are certainly the cuties of the Christmas season!  Welcome to Day 2 of the November stamp release at Paper Sweeties - and yes, it includes cutie gingerbread people!

We make gingerbread men every year.  I always look forward to it.  The kitchen smells so good and the cookies are yummy.  But I always feel bad biting off their heads!  I think our gingerbread man cookies will be even better given in this box!  The paper is a download from Stampin' Up called Homemade Happiness.  It makes a perfect background for the gingerbread man stamp from the Paper Sweeties new HoHoHo set. (Right now the HoHoHo stamps and dies are on sale as a bundle.) These little guys are heat embossed and sprinkled with glitter sugar.

The tag is a stamped present from Homespun Holidays.  The Paper Sweeties Blog has more peeks of the November Release - go by and see!  Come back tomorrow for Day 3...

Paper Sweeties November Release + Yummy Cookie Idea

We love Maple Flavored Sugar Cookies!  Never tried them?  Well, you certainly should!  Dennis and I made leaf shaped ones the other day and tried something new.  Something I definitely recommend:  paint on the maple syrup!

Welcome to the first day of Paper Sweeties November Release.  Those yummy maple cookies needed an extra special gift wrap.

 I used the  wreath from the new Season of Love set to prettify my sweet little treat basket (a die from Papertrey Ink).  Isn't it lovely stamped in chocolate and highlighted with pearl pens and glitter?  It will be available in the Paper Sweeties store on Friday.  Now back to those cookies for a second:

  

Maple Sugar Cookies How-to

You can use your favorite Sugar Cookie recipe.  

Divide it into three or four balls and add food coloring, then mix the balls back together.  

Cut into leaf shapes and bake as usual.  

When they first come out of the oven, brush them generously with maple syrup and sprinkle with sugar.  

They glisten and smell divine!  They smell so good that Kitty Boy was going crazy (I think he thought we were making pancakes and bacon would be involved)!  Give it  a try - you will love them!

Be sure to visit the Paper Sweeties blog for all the new release details.  And come back tomorrow for another peek at the November Release.  See you then!

Moxie Fab Thanks! Blog Hop

Today is the day for the Moxie Fab Thanks! Blog Hop!  

This is a BIG THANK YOU to Cath Edvalson.  You know her as the every day genius of the Moxie Fab World Blog.- the lady who made it an inspirational place to visit!  She just blogged her last post  and I want to wish her all the best and since the holidays are coming up to wish her a blessed Christmas.  Relax, take care of yourself, and have fun, Cath!

The stamps used on this glass Christmas dome are from Paper Sweeties, who in honor of Cath, is releasing its November stamps and dies a little earlier than usual.  There is a darling assortment of homespun Christmas, gingerbread people, wreaths and sentiments.

There are also some Christmas goodies like bells and chenille candy canes, too!  You can see more about all the goodies at the Paper Sweeties Blog.

I got really lucky to find about 8 of these darling little vintage deer.  Isn't it sweet?  

Now, let's keep this hop hopping!  You should have arrived here from Piali and now you will be heading to Charlene.

So glad you came by!

Vintage Snowflakes

I've always loved snowflake ornaments!  They look so pretty on the tree.  Nicecrane Designs has introduced several vintage sets to create circular pyramid ornaments.  I'm going to show you another way to implement the circle images - as the center of snowflakes!

I love that Ignacio has done the hard part for us.  I don't like having to figure out what portion of an image will make a nice circle!

To make these pretty glittery snowflake ornaments, I've used Stampin' Up Festive Flurry Snowflake Stamps and Framelits.   (You can get a bundle of the Festive Flurry stamps and dies at a 15% savings here.)

Stamp and cut two large snowflakes.   Line up the snowflake on a scoring tool (or use a ruler) and score from the top of a long point all the way through the snowflake to the bottom of a long point.  Only score the long points - on this snowflake, that is three scores.   Ignore that second snowflake - it's not lined up at all!

Then turn the snowflakes over and score the other points.  This way you have the mountains and valleys for the accordian fold.  Lining up is important - the right snowflake is lined up much better than the left one!  

Cut one fold all the way to the middle on both snowflakes and accordian fold.

 It will make the snowflake sturdier and smoother looking if you overlap one section to adhere them together. 

To finish up, hot glue a loop and circle of paper to the back (also helps with sturdiness).  Stack the next size snowflake, a glittered scallop circle, and sweet vintage image from Nicecrane Designs.  I used hot glue and pop dots under each layer.

Here's a look at Christmas Balls by Boyle (Pyramid Style):

I'll be posting to Make it Monday.

Thank you for coming by!