Twas the night before Christmas with cheesecake in the oven, Mom and Dad were rolling dollar bills to make Holiday Dough!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!  I just finish this Advent Calendar for our house!--Note to anyone designing one of these--start in August!

I participated in a local scrap store swap this year and made (10) Christmas tags to swap out for (10) different tags--this is my assembly and I decided to add one to my Advent Calendar-I guess I am in a Red & Cheery Christmas mood this year!

This was the Advent Calendar I made for my sister Shrills in AZ--

It's that time of year when we gaze out our windows or look up at the trees and see a marvelous array of autumn colors that makes us stop, take it all in and be thankful for all we have.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Old Man of the Mountain

The Old Man of the Mountain

 

 My good friend Berta called a few weeks ago and asked  if I could create Christmas ornaments dedicated to the beloved "Old Man of the Mountain". I said I would but out of curiosity I wanted to know why she needed them.

As the story goes, Berta and Heather were headed up north to the White Mountains of New Hampshire for the weekend.  As Berta was driving (a little too fast), Heather was a bit noodgy as co-pilots often get.

As Berta carried on, she started to look upwards out the front windshield of the car to get a glimpse of the Old Man of the Mountain.  This made Heather even more nervous and she insisted that Berta, slow down, the old man will always be there and watch the road!

Unbeknownst to them, this would not be the case.  The Old Man of the Mountain’s lower half collapsed during the night of May 3, 2003 and Berta never got to see him!

For ten years, both Berta and Heather have been entertaining this mishap by carrying on the tradition of the beloved Old Man of the Mountain with surprising each other with trinkets and souvenirs that mark the occasion of this unfortunate famous landmark to crumbles.

This year, being the 10^th anniversary of their journey to the north, Berta is celebrating one final surprise and I had the honor to create the following plaque, ornaments and Squash Book to be secretly placed on Heather’s mini Christmas tree and tipping the hat as the final gesture to the Old Man of the Mountain.

The Squash Book is for their final photos and journal notes of this event!

Halloween Punch Art!

I took some time today to mess around with some of my Stampin' Up punches and here are just a few things I came up with in a matter of minutes.

While using the" Bundle" Tags 4 You stamp set and the coordinating punch I took care of two holidays in one fell swoop!  

The extra large oval punch created both the spider body and my pumpkin, and the spider legs were from my bird punch leaf vine. The pumpkin stump is made from one bird wing cut in half.   I turned my sweet humming bird punch into dark black pecking crows with an embossed wing and shiny crystal eyes (I am sure they are gawking at those delicious candy corns!) Anyway, these were all 2-minute projects, utilizing just a few punches to create!

ICE TIME!

The first autumn breeze with temps dropping to the 40's at night, after a very long and muggy New England summer—it’s time to pull out your ice skates for a spin! Well, at least a creative spin and this Sizzix Die is amazing.  I am such a huge fan all the dies I could just cry with joy!  Look at this detail—all separate parts create this skate so you can really doll it up or keep it simple!

Did you even think in a basement studio loaded with a boatload of crafting doodads that the size of an eyelet could make or break this festive card piece?  Well, I have oodles of plastic containers of such but the big eyelets were too big and the small eyelets fell through the holes…#3mm (1/8) is the perfect size for lace holes. It was my ‘Cinderella moment’; to find the perfect eyelet for my skate shoe!  (Thank you Angela my Swap Sister for the prefect shade of red/white twine in my last goodie swap treats—as you can see it matches my colorful skate to a “T”!)

My head is spinning with ideas for the use of this die cut; invitations, cards (obviously), place cards, ornaments/tags-and I used my Stampin’ Up silver paper to bling out the blade!

Copic - Kraft Parmesan Container Storage Tower!

As you know, in a previous post I won the huge black Copic marker travel bag at the 10 second Marathon Run at Absolutely Everything, Topsfield, MA last summer and ever since,  that is where my Copic pens have been stored.

  Last night, I was coloring an image and was reaching for a color and the individual mesh basket inside this huge box spilled over---blah, blah, blah...<swear word here> ha-ha

After regrouping my mess, I was looking around my studio thinking... how can I store these on my desk so I can see each color in their proper color family without dumping them out onto my work station...

 Hmmm...

Kraft Parmesan containers - glued together with hot glue!  BINGO!  I glued two together and the hot glue did not distort their form and supported the weight of the markers...itsa go!

Now, we are not of Italian decent, but I guess big parm-pasta consumers and I have made it a habit of upcycling these wonderful clear plastic containers in my craft room.  I have used them for buttons, doodads, giving a jar of Cricut pre- cut die leaves to my secret sisters and and now my Copic's!

My Copic's have a brilliant new home, lying securely at a 45 degree angle, on my desk in clear sight! I need to invest in some re-inker's to put my entire stash up there...and as my collection grows-I'll yank out the glue gun and add another container to the stack!  Brilliant!

Question...Any ideas what to do with the Parmesan caps? I suppose I could use them for glitter or embossing powders--but the horror of the cap not being closed properly could really make my head spin! 

*Note: Dishwashers melt the plastic-hand washing a must!

Since I have to multi-task while chatting on the phone (one can only play so much "Mahjong Titans" w/o going cross-eyed)...I grab a 12x12 stack/ pad of decorative papers and get crackin' on assembling envelopes!  So far these envies have journeyed to the UK, Germany, FL, Chicago and AZ without fail!  This "Lick & Stick" glue works beautifully-even with my full-figured  6x6 cards!  I am saving myself bundles on envies!  A big round of applause to 

 We R MemoryKeepers!!!

This spring I worked for Absolutely Everything ,Topsfield, MA for a short stint--actually 18.5 days and really enjoyed myself.  One of the best perks was given the opportunity to 'create from scratch'-Kate Farricker, owner of AE, let me run with the ball on some new images. This image is from IO Stamps (Impression Obsession-Mermaid). She is holding something else-but I could not help myself to use a use something "real" as her focal point--Yes, I always think about what the image is doing!  I am pretty sure that sand is from Anna Maria Island, FL.

Paper Smooches "I love Shoes"

"Tracie's Specks-tacular Cabana"

Tracie, from our SCS swap gave us the challenge of working with this digital image; Sunbathing Beauty by Dearie Dolls-she was originally lying down on a beach blanket--but I sent her to work in her beach cabana instead!