Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Stunning Ornaments with the Festive Flower Punch

Happy Wednesday!!

Long-time-no-post!  I can't believe it's been 2 full weeks since I posted … or that I've only posted twice this month! … then again yes, I CAN believe it as December always seems to be a gong show around here!  In the buzz and whirl that is the run up to Christmas I seem to be in survival mode … just barely keeping my head above water.  Naturally making sure the kids have a lunch in their backpack takes priority over blogging … and once school is done wrapping presents, baking and trying to RELAX takes precedence.  Now that "the big day" has come and gone I'm trying to GENTLY ease back into a mini-routine and a *little* work.  Of course "*real* pants" are still optional and "pants are optional" is still my mantra for the week … so I bring you this post from the comfort of my leggings and stretched out *sick* sweater (you know what I'm talkin' about - that sweater we all have that we wear when we are sick … it is over sized, stretched out, faded, likely has one or more holes, is COMPLETELY the wrong colour for your complexion and likely smells like a wet hamster but is sooooooo comfy and cosy.  Ya - THAT sweater!)

So!  Here I am (now that you have that great visual of what I look like this morning!) ready to share a few of my favourite gifts and ornaments for 2015.

I HAVE to start with this years ornament.  If you've been following my blog for a while you'll know that I love traditions at Christmas and perhaps my favourite one is that each year I make a tree ornament for my girls.  The idea started when Rebecca was born.  I had discovered "quilling" (rolling thin strips of paper) and made a few paper snowflakes on her first Christmas.  I thought it would be nice to make one every year so that, when she was grown and moved out, she would have a box full of lovingly made ornaments for her tree.  I made quilled ornaments for the first two Christmases but by the third year I was tired of them,  a) they are very time consuming b) by the third Christmas we were living at my moms and  I didn't have my crafting supplies c) I wanted to try something new.  Yesterday the girls and I dug out their special ornament boxes and went through them.  It really made my heart smile to see how many they have!  I have made at LEAST one every year (except 2004 … ??!!) … and aside from the ornaments that were made by ME there are dozens of hand-carved wooden ornaments made by my dad (given to them each year) as well as ornaments that either the GIRLS made or that we made together.  I absolutely LOVE that their trees can be FULL or ornaments when they are older .. and that they are all hand made.  LOVE!

So!  As always, I spent about 100 hours surfing through Pinterest for ideas and settled on these stunning pieces of loveliness …
I can't even BEGIN to describe how beautiful these are "in person"!  They are SO striking and sparkly.  Absolutely LOVE them!  Pictures truly don't do them justice.  Picture them with the glow of the Christmas lights bouncing off them in the dark.  Fabulous!!!
 Hmmm- the lighting on these isn't very "true" …

Red Glimmer paper ...
 Silver Glimmer paper ...
 Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper …
 Champagne Glimmer paper ...
My absolute favourite is the Dazzling Diamonds flower … then the red and Champagne (tied), then the silver.  The silver is pretty but it kinda hurts my eyes it so blingy! lol

I have to admit, it wasn't until one of my friends bought the Festive Flower Punch that I really considered buying it.  I'm not a fan of "fussy" and time consuming … but I also can't live with someone owning a product I don't have so, when it went on the Weekly Deal at 25% off I bought one.  It sat on my shelf until I decided to try making a flower.  Naturally I had no idea what to do so I headed to Youtube to watch a video on it.  Here is the Stampin' Up! video I watched ...
I still down have the stamp set (I can't imagine I'd ever use the set …)but I am SOOOOO glad I own the punch!

For my flowers I used a hot glue gun to speed things up.  That is a MUST, in my opinion!  The glue used in the video would simply take too long for this impatient crafter!  I also used my silicone mat to make sure I didn't have any glue "incidents" on my craft desk.

Once I punched out all my pieces (8 large petals, 4 small, two "centres" and two 1" circles I folded the petals in half (like in the video).  I would fold 1 flower, then glue it as the rough glimmer paper did feel like sandpaper against my fingers after a while so I had to split the steps up to save my skin!  The assembly process took 10 minutes per flower … so I made 6 per hour.

I made 6 of each flower, for a total of 24.  I gave my mom 12 (3 of each colour) and kept 12 myself … and putting 2 in the girls' keepsake boxes.

Oh .. I also attached some cord to the back of each ornament.  I simply attached it with the (retired) Sticky Strip.

Mom loved them.  So do I!

Wanna see two more of my favourite gifts/decorations from this year?  Ok!  They come from y eldest, Rebecca (12 years old).  She insisted on making everyones' gifts … and they couldn't be MY idea …or come from Pinterest.  I freaking LOVE what came out of her imagination (and my crafting stash).  Check them out …

Love love love!  The snowman (her gift to me) is one of my dad's socks (new, never work *lol).  The had is one of Rebecca's old socks (VERY worn *lol) and she glued the buttons and pipe cleaners on with my glue gun.  Not gunna lie - makes me a LITTLE twitchy that she's using my glue gun unsupervised!

The bottom picture is what she made for Craig.  She just made figures out of pompoms and cotton balls.  You can't see it very well but the black blob in the background is a reindeer.  LOVE it!

Right!  Doodles is giving me stink-eye which means it's time for his walk.

Pop in again soon to see more projects.  In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the holidays and have a stampy day!


Tam

Monday, December 14, 2015

Christmas Crafting Crazy

Happy Monday!

… I think … not too sure.  Been awake since 3:00 again - never a great start to the day.

Too.  Much.  Going.  On.

Last week everything was great.  I was on top of it all.  I was calm.  I was collected.  I was rested.   I was "normal".

As of yesterday I am bat shit CRAZY and have a to-do list that is 30 bullet points long! … and some of those bullet points have SUB-bullet points.  WTH???  I'm drowning, primarily, in school work!  With the last 4 days of school the kids have a TONNE of exams, assignments and "fun" things to do.  Translation - I'm juggling helping make a to-scale zoo (complete with fences, animals and dimensions), memorize useless facts about mercantilism and The Hudson Bay from back when the earth was still cooling, writing cue cards on the 6 form of precipitation … and 4 types of clouds … and how they are formed … meanwhile trying to figure out what everyone is going to wear to the 15 minute Christmas Concert Thursday night … oh, and whip up a potluck snack for the kids … and MAKE an ugly Christmas sweater … did I mention our fridge died last week?  Ya - so we're living out of a bar fridge and a box of condiments in the garage … did I mention Alicia has a RAGING cold?  Ya - 3 time she's been sick in 3 weeks …. AND I have my period … AGAIN!  %(@#%*!#(

*insert calm breathing here ….

OK … better ….

Shall we proceed … calmly?   Right ….

So that's why I've been MIA for the last week or so.  I say again … bat shit crazy …

In and amongst all the "fun" noted above I HAVE been crafting.  Yup - the last two Fridays I was at the school crafting with Alicia's class (ironically one of those classes I was in her classroom while she was sick at home on my couch!)  Naturally my samples got lost in the 27 kid chaos .. but here is an idea of what they made ...
We used the Fry Box Die to make Santa boxes.  They also made a white version with 3 punched out black circles for a snowman box.  IT was actually a fairly painless afternoon *lol*

Last week I went in and the kids made two cards and envelopes … not quite as painless but fu all the same ….

The reindeer card was quick and easy.  They simply stamped the antlers from the Wonderland set (2015 Holiday Catalogue that is retiring VERY soon!) … and the sentiment from Oh What Fun (In Chocolate Chip ink).  A 1/2" red glimmer paper circle was attached with a dimensional and they drew eyes on with a Sharpie.  I thought the card would be too quick so I made up a second one.  In hind sight the one would have been enough,  Alas! …

The second card was made with different lengths of 2", 1 1/2" and 1" strips (Cherry Cobbler, Pear pizzazz and Whisper White), punched with the banner punch.  The snowflake is a retired one I found in my stash of "single" stamps that we could buy a few years back.  We used a retired flower punch to punch it out and attach it.  The snowflake is in Early Espresso.  The 3 snowflake are in Pear Pizzazz from another retired set Christmas Punch (one of the very first sets I ever purchased!)
The sentiment is from the November Paper Pumpkin kit.  We added some rhinestones for some bling … they stamped and punched out the santa postage stamp for the envelope and they were done.

Last week the girls and I cracked of 16 Key-UTE little candy sleighs.  I've seen them all over Pinterest but it wasn't until my friend Barb posted pics of hers on Facebook that I knew I had to make them.  It took about an hour to do all 16!

 Walmart for the Candy Canes and Costco for the Gum, Chocolate Bars and ribbon.  I made tags using the Oh What Fn se (Black ink) and ornaments from a retired set from last year in Cucumber Crush - punched the top with the topper punch, added some Baker's Twine and DONE!

Thursday night Rebecca asked if I would make a card for her student teacher as it was her last day Friday.  Oh kayyyyyyy.  I've made this card before but this one had to be bigger so all 21 kids could sign it.  Mission accomplished.  I used a 12" x 12" piece of paper (and no envelope) to make one large enough.

 Done!

Last night I worked on my angels from 2 years ago …
I had given all mine to my mom back in 2013.  I had punched out all the pieces, planning to put them together but apparently that takes 2 years … and a 30 Bullet-point to-do list to get 'er done!

Lord ply knows what I'll be creating THIS week … but rest assured there will be SOME crafting happening.  Well … if I survive the next 3 days, that is!  Pop in again next week to see if I made it!

Thanks for listening to my rant!  Now out's 6:30 and time to get the kids moving.  Wish me luck … and have a stampy day!


Tam


Thursday, December 10, 2015

Year End Sale

Happy Thursday!

I know, I know … it's been over a week since I posted a project.  Hang in there - some are coming!  To be honest I didn't DO much crafting last week - too busy being exhausted and dealing with sick children.  This week has been a little better as we have started making gifts and ornaments for family and friends.  Stay tuned!
Today I just wanted to mention that some of the current products (in the 2015 Holiday Catalogue) are on sale!  See over on the Right Hand Side?  The picture that says "Order 24/7"?  Click on that to go to my on-line store and order away!  Items are While Supplies Last.  If your order is under $200 make sure you enter Hostess Code 4BH4VYKH to be entered into my draw for free product!

Thanks for popping in - I hope your holiday prep is going strong!  I'll post a project very soon.

Have a stampy day!


Tam