Easel Card

So the contest today over at Scrapping Bug Designs facebook page

was to create an easel card with one of their files. So I used the

"I Love Snow" file. I have never made an easel card before, but it was

a lot of fun...I can't wait to try some shaped ones....

Supplies are Jillibean Soup for patterned paper,

Papertrey Ink for the sentiment & notebook die,

Misc. - Rhinestones, Snowflake buttons & Ribbon.

Hope you have a great day!

Jennifer



Gingerbread Layout

So last night I submitted a new 2 page layout for the Scrapping Bug Designs

contest. It is taking me about 2 days to get a layout done because I

am hand cutting all my pieces...I don't have a Silhoutte machine to cut the files.

That is what I am trying to win in this contest we will see.

I did get 4 votes for my last layout that I entered so that means my name will be

entered in the drawing 4 times...

Oh well, I am having fun doing it...so that's what counts!!!

I used "I Love Cookies" and "Sweet Like You" for this layout.

In the first photo you will see a close-up of the gingerbread house.

I stickled all of the snow & used pearls for decoration on the house.

The cuties below are holding hands while they share a milk.

I used baby ric-rac to embellish them.

Next is a close-up of the title.

The cute carton of milk with a peeking and sitting ginger bread girl and boy.

and last is the border which is a Martha Stewart punch. I also added

rhinestsones for a little decoration...

Hope you have enjoyed today's share...see you soon.

Have a great day!

Jennifer



Tear Bear Layout

Well I finally finished my first layout with some of the Tear Bear paper

piecing's I have been making. All of the bears I made were patterns from

Scrapping Bug Designs website. I entered my layout in to today's contest

and hope to get some of those votes from their design team so I can

get my name in the drawing for the Silhouette Cameo they are giving away.

My layout uses two patterns from their store called

Loads of Love and Be Still My Heart.

I used the two bears that I gave you a peek at early today and another one that I made this

afternoon to make the layout complete.

So what do you think?

This layout thing is new to me with the tear bears, but I don't think it looks too bad...

Have a great night!

Jennifer

Paper Peicing Fun

Okay so you all know that I have playing with the mulberry paper

again and the bug has bit me I can't stop making things with it...

I have been having so much fun that I thought I should share a

great contest going on right now with the Scrapping Bug Designs site.

This is where I have been getting some of my newest patterns from...adorable!!!

They are going to give away a Cameo at the end of the month and you can get your

name in the drawing by participating in their contests.

So go check it out and see if it is something that interests you.

Click Here to go and check out the details....its lots of fun!!!

And While I am here I should share a few new creations with you

and see what you think...???

And thanks for all of the sweet comments you have been leaving

makes me feel so special....

Have a great day!!!

Jennifer

Some Paper & Mulberry Peicings

I have gotten back into paper piecing and tear bears torn out of

extra thick mulberry paper. It is a little time consuming, but well worth it

when you finish the little cuties and use them on a scrapbook page or card

for someone special.

I recently discovered a website called Scrapping Bug Designs and

KaDoodle Bug Designs where they have all kinds of paper piecing patterns

that you can buy and download instantly. Now I know the files are set up so

that you can use them with your Cricut, Silhouette etc., but I don't

have the software to do that so I hand cut and tear mine.

Which is fine because it makes them that much more special to me.

This first one is a gingerbread girl made from card stock. I attached real

baby ric-rac for a special touch. The penguin is made from tearing him out of

the extra thick mulberry paper.

These gingerbread girls are made from the mulberry paper on the left and card stock on the right.

I did one of each to see which one I liked better...and I think it has to be the mulberry one.

I have yet to see a cookie that was smooth and without indentations on it...

Which one do you like?

And the last set I made so far is of a boy and girl penguin baking for

Christmas Day. The eyes were a printable download from

The Beary Scrap Paper Crafting Boutique.

I also added my own bows to each of them instead of what they had used.

I think they are the sweetest little things....

I had fun doing these and I have lots more patterns I bought, so I am

sure that I will be back soon to show you those.

I am really going to try to better this year about getting posts

onto my blog...see you soon.

Have a great day!

Jennifer



Wine Tags

For the last couple of years I have a dear friend, Leslie who has asked me

to make her wine tags that she attaches to the special wines

she gives to her family for the holidays.

It is always fun as she just tells me some colors she likes and I

go to work making up something I think she will enjoy.

Free reign with product & creativity is so great!!!

This year I came up with this design for her.

It uses the Papertrey Ink Wine Tag Die, Love Lives Here: Holiday stamp set

and small gingerbread boy and girl from Martha Stewart.

I used pine green seam binding for the bows and card stock by Stampin' Up!

Have a great day!

Jennifer

More fun with Candy

I also wanted to share with you these candy arrangements that I made for

my mom and sister for Christmas. Its the best gift when you just not sure what

to give them for a gift.

It starts off with an old style ice cream sundae dish.

Filled with assorted small candy and then you use a styrofoam ball

attached to the top of the dish.

then I just grabbed an assorted bag of chocolates from the store

and started hot gluing the individual pieces of hard candy on the underneath

and the chocolate to the top part of the styrofoam ball. I also used 2 of those

curling ribbon bows that you can get at the dollar store and took them apart

to fill in small spaces and give it a fancy look. I also chose a few floral picks to

add to it and a small food pick that I found that said "To Santa's Workshop".

This was the other one I made using all the same items just

a few different type of floral picks.

I was quite thrilled with the way they turned out and my

mom and sister loved them. I think this may be used

 several more times this year with other holidays.

Have a great day!
Jennifer



Fun with Candy

For most of my neighbors, close frinds, family and teachers I made these

cute little sleighs made out of different candy. It was a blast to do and the

receipents loved them....

It atkes 2 candy canes, 1 Kit Kat - regular size, 10 miniature hershey

candy bars, 1 tiny bow and ribbon to make these darling little gifts.

I hand stamped little tags using Papertrey Inks Friendship Jar set and

the matching label die cut.



Have a great day!
Jennifer

Joy Banner

I participated in a gift exchange at a friends house and it had to be handmade,

which is always great because then I can be creative.

So I came up with this banner called "JOY".

It uses all Close To My Heart product such as:

banner, papers and die cuts.

The only thing that is not is the pearls, seam binding ribbon, mini pine cones

and tiny holly & berry buttons.

Here are a few close-ups of the banners so you can see all of the details.

It really was hard to try and capture the sparkle of it...

It was so much better in person...and it was a big hit as far the gifts went.

I am glad they liked it.

Have a great day!

Jennifer



Santa Letters

I love the Papertrey Ink set that is called "Santa Stationery".

I am not fond of the Santa image in it, but I love everything else about it.

My friend Jennifer and I got together back in November and made these

adorable lists and certificates for our kids.

Now let me tell you that my oldest is 11 and he still believes in Santa

which I think is amazing with what kids hear today...but I am so glad because

it makes it great to be able to do this for him as well as my younger two

who are 8 and 7. They still believe and I wouldn't want it any other way.

There is defiantly something special in Believing in Santa when you

are a young child. To see Christmas through their eyes is so special and

it reminds us of those days of innocence that are far gone from our adult lives.

So this is the envelope that the wish list from Santa arrived in from the

North Pole to our mailbox. They are not home from school yet when the mail comes

so it was very easy for me to sneak it into the days mail.

The envelope and wish list are shown below. They loved filling them out and putting them in

the mailbox to be delivered back to the North Pole...good thing they weren't here to see good

old mom pull them out and start reviewing them for holiday shopping.

And last up is the certificate of Good Behavior which was sent after their wish lists

were received to let them know that they had been good this year!!!

I had so much fun doing this...don't know if I will get to next year because

the cat might be out of the bag with the oldest, but who knows?

Have a great day!

Jennifer



Christmas layout

So that friend that I had mentioned earlier that we do some sort of swap

to stay in touch with each other...Her name is Gabriella. I didn't

want to use her name without her permission, but she said go for it...so I am!!

So hey Girl you now are named in blog land!!!

Anyways we did a layout swap and we both used the same sketch.

The sketch is from Scrapbook Generations  which I absolutely love that

store and site. They have layout kits and classes that are absolutely amazing!!!
This particular swap had us using a layout from Allison Davis's 6 x 6 Paper Pads
class that is a downloaded book...and its awesome!!! If you have tons of 6 x 6
paper pads to use try this out...its great.

Its a very simple layout that you showcase 3 - 4 x 6 photos across the middle of the patterned papers,

but I loved how it turned out...

I uses the Handmade Holiday from Simple Stories which is a favorite holiday line this year.

And I just received an email this morning that Simple Stories and Scrapbook Generations

have teamed up to put together an idea book using the Simple Stories lines

and that will be available for purchase later this month after making its debut at

CHA 2013 in California starting January 12th.

Well, I can't wait to see that and what Simple Stories has planned for

release...there lines are amazing to me and I love paper crafting with them!

Have a great Day!

Jennifer

Christmas Planners

Good Morning!!!

The kids are back to school, the laundry is caught up,

Most of the housework is done, but the tree and decorations still

need to come down. All in due time as I say....

However, I would rather finish updating my blog with some

more things that I did in 2012...

So with that I wanted to show you the Christmas planners I made

to stay organized and on top of things... The first one shown uses the Handmade

Holiday line from Simple Stories. Which I absolutely love!!!

Now, this was not my own idea I actually saw it on Pinterest.

All you need is a white 2 pocket paper folder, which I found at Office Max in a bulk pack.

You open it up, lay it flat and fold the two sides towards the center creating

4 individual pockets for storage of lists. I attached 2 envelopes to the inside

one for receipts and another for coupons. The bow is all tied and never has to be untied

because I did a velcro closure. All of my fiends are always telling me how

much they hate tying bows so that is why I did it that way.

The inside pages were from a website called Organized Home.

The link will take you to the exact page that I found the pocket pages on

and from there I just printed them onto different colored papers and cut

them apart to put inside each for the pockets. I also found the calendars

that are in the left pocket there.

I created my own little tags for the front of each section and die cut them into

cute little shapes for each packet.

And the lists are staggered by using a single sheet of card stock

and making small pockets in different spots to get them to sit that way

when its all folded up.

The picture below shows two others that I made using the free printable

that was on the Eighteen 25 Blog. I love that site!!! You never know what

those girls will have up for us to enjoy and be inspired from.

The papers I used to cover them were from Authentique and Close To My Heart.

These ended up going to my kids teachers at school as a little surprise gift.

They loved them to say the least....

Well that's about it for this post. If you have any questions feel free to send me

a message and I will do my best to answer them.

Have a great day!

Jennifer