Day 7 Chalkboard Art

Hi there dear friends!  I am so behind with my 12 days posts, and I am so sorry for not being able to keep up.  As most of you know, I started a new job!!  I'm the new District Secretary for our local public schools and I love my job!! I am so blessed to be working with some amazing people and I am learning so many new things.  We also moved Benny back home, whoo hoo!  I am so happy to have him home!  Needless to say, I've been quite busy and my creative side has had to take a back seat over the past few weeks.  I'm hoping that I'll catch up soon, but honestly after the events of last week, I have really considered what is most important in this life.  Spending time with family and helping others in need is most important and card making has become secondary.  I don't know where this will go, but I do feel the need to spend some of my free time volunteering in some way.  Now that I don't spend much of my days with students, I'm thinking I may search out a way to give back to the community and work with students in some way.  I don't know where this will all go, but thanks for letting me share my heart with you!!  I appreciate you all tremendously!

I finally felt my creative energies call out to me today!  I had a blank spot on my wall that needed to be filled.  I have been admiring all the chalkboard art that I've been seeing lately, but I haven't had the time to give it a try.  Don't worry, I will some time.  Betsy Veldman has totally inspired me and I will try her techniques in the near future!  For this project, I searched online for free printables and I found a couple of good sites with fabulous Christmas Art.  Mothertime Marketplace is where I found the printable I used and this is a great site too!  Thank you so much for sharing your art with all of us!!!

I received the most wonderful package from a friend of mine, Suzanne, who sent me Wplus9 Folk Art Flurry stamps and the Simple Snowflake Die.  I love them soooo much and I just had to use them in my new wall art project!  First, I printed out the chalkboard art, then I embellished the print with stamps and die cuts.  So easy and soooo much fun!!  Don't you just love the snowflakes?  They are fabulous!

  I added a Filigree border die to the top and bottom of the print, a banner from the Glitz Design Joyeux Noel Line, and a floral and bow from my stash.  It took only a few minutes for me to put the project together and now I have a full display that will shine during our holiday celebrations!

Thank you so much for stopping by and Merry Christmas!

Kristii

Day 7 English Toffee

Happy Sunday evening sweet friends! I am a little behind on my 12 Days of Christmas posts and I'm sorry for that!  It's been crazy busy the last few days and I will keep posting as I can.  Thank you so much for being patient with me!  I've started my holiday candy making and thought I would share my English Toffee recipe with you.  This recipe has been a family favorite for years and I know everyone looks forward to it each and every year!  I hope you love it as much as we do!

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cut sugar
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1/2 cup coarsely chopped almonds
3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds

Melt one cup butter in a heavy saucepan.  Add sugar, water and corn syrup.  Cook over medium heat to 290 degrees, stirring frequently.  Be sure to watch carefully after 280 degrees.  Remove from heat and quickly stir in coarsely chopped almonds.  Immediately turn into a buttered 13x9x2 pan.  Wait for 2-3 minutes and sprinkle with chocolate chips.  When chocolate has softened, spread evenly over toffee and then sprinkle with finely chopped almonds.  Chill until chocolate is firm and cut into pieces.

Enjoy!!!
Kristii

Day 6 - Fast and Easy Tags

Happy Day 6 my friernds!! Today I have some quick and easy tags to share with you!  These tags literally took me 10 minutes to make and will be gorgeous on any package or gift!

 I started with 2 different die cut tags and layered them with a glitter covered die cut snowflake.

I stamped two bells on patterned paper with Versamark ink and embossed the bells with ultra fine gold embossing powder.  So elegant and classy!  I added a stamped sentiment and bow and that's all it took!

Supplies used:
Glitz Design 6x6 pads:  Joyeux Noel and Hello Friend.
Papertrey Ink Tag Sale Dies: #3 and #5
Papertrey Ink Damask Snowflake Die
Papertrey Ink Bells and Boughs Stamps
Papertrey Ink Rustic Cream Cardstock and Ribbon

Thanks for stopping by!!
I hope you have a great day!!!
Kristii

Day 5 - Vintage Wall Art

Happy day Five of the Twelve days of Christmas everyone!  Those of you who follow my blog know how much I love Lisa Pace's Antiquated Line of stamps by Pink Persimmon!  I've been wanting to do a few wall art pieces this Christmas to decorate my walls and I thought that I would mix several stamp sets to create a family art piece.  

I took an old vintage frame that I had and cut out out an oval patterned paper background using Rhonna Farrer's All is Bright papers by My Mind's Eye.  I die cut some trees out of embossed paper and some felt greenery.

I stamped and colored all the images and die cut the lamp post.  After I die cut the lamp post, I inked the lamp post with Versamark Ink and embossed it with fine black embossing powder.

 I just can't get enough of these Sweet Little Girls!!  I think they are my all time favorite stamp set for sure!!

Supplies Used:

Pink Persimmon Stylish and Fashionable Stamps

Pink Persimmon Sweet Little Girls Stamps

Pink Persimmon Holly and Mistletoe Stamps

My Mind’s Eye All is Bright Patterned Paper by Rhonna Farrer

Tim Holtz Alterations Holiday Lampost Die by Sizzix

Black Embossing Powder

Red, Cream and Green Felt

Vintage Lace

Embossed Paper

Tree Die

Yellow Cardstock

Black Cardstock

Gray Cardstock

Cream Cardstock

Pearl

Distress Ink

Copic Markers:

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a very Merry Christmas!!

Kristii

Day 4 - A Little Christmas Cheer with Glitz Design

Happy 4th day of Christmas my sweet friends!!  I just love this time of year and Glitz Design has made Christmas Card card designing as easy as pie!!!  Their new line Joyeux Noel is absolutely gorgeous and perfect for all your Christmas projects!!

My first card mixes the Joyeux Noel collection with my favorite florals from the Hello Friend line.  I always love mixing papers from different lines, and Glitz Design makes it so easy to do! The green and pink combination totally fills my creative heart with joy!!

There is a lot of layering going on in this card!  I used the Joyeux Noel 6x6 paper pad and the post card and star from the Joyeux Noel Whatnots package.  I fussy cut the flowers and die cut the deer and the trees.  Then I stamped the sentiment and added a little piece of the Hello Friend Paper Garland and a little bell to embellish.

In the second card, I embossed the rustic cream cardstock panel and added some die cut trees and snowflakes layered along with a Glitz Design Joyeux Noel Cardstock Sticker.

I added a striped panel to the top of the card and layered it along with a die cut border and some old fashioned rope tinsel.  I topped the card off with a little bow and some vintage silhouettes.    Way fun!!

Supplies Used:
Glitz Design Joyeux Noel 6x6 paper pad
Glitz Design Hello Friend 6x6 paper pad
Glitz Design Joyeux Noel Cardstock Journaling Stickers
Glitz Design Joyeux Noel Whatnots
Glitz Design Hello Friend Paper Garland
Other supplies:  PTI Rustic Cream and True Black Cardstock, PTI In the Meadow Dies, PTI Holiday Photo Finishers stamps, PTI Damask Filigree Border and Snowflake Dies, Melissa Frances Rope Tinsel, hand-dyed seam binding and a jingle bell from my stash.

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a very Merry Christmas!
Kristii 

Day #3 Bleach Bottle Santa

Happy 3rd Day of Christmas dear friends!  I have something a little different for you today!  For those of you who love to use recycled products in your crafts I have the perfect jolly old elf for you to try!

Supplies:

1 white bleach bottle

1-2 skeins white yarn

41 white pipe cleaners

Red felt

Flesh colored felt

2 google eyes

1 white 1/2 inch pompom

Scissors

Ice pick or nail to punch holes

Glue

Instructions:

·      First remove the label from an empty and clean bleach bottle. Then cut the bleach bottle in half length wise through the handle so that each section has half of the handle and half of the spout.

·      Make the hat. Cut the red felt into two triangular pieces with a base of 9 1/2 inches and height of 15 inches. Sew the long edges together and then turn the stitched side in. Cut 9 pieces of yarn 4 1/2 inches long. Fold the yarn pieces in half. Place the looped end on the tip end of the hat with the loop extending about 1/2 inch on to the tip. Tie in place with another short piece of yarn. Glue the hat in place along the side to side seam line on the outside of the bottle.

·      Next make the hair and beard. You will be making 41 looped yarn pieces. The measurements are for the length of the loop not the length of the yarn piece needed.

·     You will need:

10 - 12 inch loop pieces

2 - 10 inch loop pieces

2 - 9 inch loop pieces

2 - 8 inch loop pieces

3 - 7 inch loop pieces

2 - 6 inch loop pieces

2 - 4 inch loop pieces

2 - 5 inch loop pieces

16 - 2 1/2 inch loop pieces

·      Make the loops by winding the yarn around a piece of cardboard the length of the loop pieces needed by using 20 loops for each. Secure in the center of the loops with one pipe cleaner, twisting to hold tightly.

·     Punch 7 holes about 1/2 inch apart, 1/2 inch from the edge, down the sides of the bottle. Punch ten holes across the bottom of the bottle about 1 1/4 inches from the bottom. Punch 16 holes across the middle of the bottle directly under the bottom edge of the hat.

·      To make the face: Glue the flesh colored felt to the bottle between the bottom of the hat and the holes on the bottom and sides. Cut to fit. You may do the next steps of making the face now or wait until you've attached the hair. Glue the pompom 2 1/2 inches from the edge of the bottom of the hat and 4 3/4 inches from the side edges for the nose. Glue the two google eyes above and to each side of the nose. Cut three circles of red felt one inch in diameter. I used a water bottle lid as a pattern. Glue one on each side of the nose for cheeks and one 1/2 inch below the nose for the mouth. Punch a hole under the nose between the nose and mouth. Insert one of the 7 inch yarn loops here for the mustache.

·     To do the hair and beard:  Insert one of the 2 1/2 inch loops in each of the 16 holes under the bottom edge of the hat. Twist the ends together in the back. Starting with the 4 inch loop going down the sides, put first the 4 inch then 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,and finally the 10 inch loops in each of the 7 side holes on each side of the face. Now insert the ten 12 inch loops in the ten holes across the bottom.

·     Create a loop out of extra pipe cleaners and attach to the back of your santa to hang.

Thanks for joining me in today's 12 days of Christmas celebration.

I'll be back tomorrow with some Glitzy Inspiration!!

Kristii

Day 2 -Cranberry Cookies

Happy Sunday dear sweet friends!  It's time for Day 2 of the Twelve Days of Christmas!!

Since it's Sunday, I have another fun recipe that's going into my Family Favorite Recipe Cookbook to share with you.  Every December, before the Christmas baking begins, we start the month off by making these delicious Cranberry Cookies.  They are a family favorite and I hope they become a favorite of yours too!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup milk 
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 1 large egg
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt 
• 2 cups fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped 
• 
  
Preheat oven to 375F.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars. Beat in milk, orange juice and egg. Separately, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, then blend well into the butter mixture.  Stir in the cranberries.  Drop dough onto a cookie sheet and bake for about 15 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes, remove from sheet to continue cooling.

See you tomorrow night for day three!!

 Enjoy and Merry Christmas!!!

Kristii

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Happy December 1st my friends!!  It's time to start the celebration and begin the 12 days of Christmas celebration!!

I have a fun little project for you today featuring Lisa Pace's Antiquated Line of Stamps, Sweet Little Girls.  These stamps are some of my all-time favorite stamps and I thought they would be oh so cute as little angels!  Stamp, Color, Cut, and add wings and glitter...What do you think?

I thought it would be fun to make these little beauties into a little banner to hang on my little heart peg shelf.  I made three panels and used three of the little girls stamps to make the angels.

I stamped around the edge of the star using Papertrey Ink's Love Lives Here: Holiday.  The little pine branches and hearts are a sweet little touch.

I used the McGill Pine Bough punch to make the greenery and added buttons and twine to add more color.

I used Papertrey Ink's Seeing Stars dies to die cut the stars that are in between the panels.  I just love the look of distressed cardboard stars!

Supplies used:
Lisa Pace's Antiquated Stamps by Pink Persimmon: Sweet Little Girls
Papertrey Ink Pure Poppy Patterned Paper, Rustic Cream Cardstock and Simply Chartreuse Cardstock
Papertrey Ink Love Lives Here Stamps
Papertrey Ink Seeing Stars Dies
McGill Pink Bough Punch
MemrieMare: Wings

Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow for the second day of Christmas!!
Kristii

Perfect for a cold winter's day

Happy Sunday sweet friends!  It's time to add another page in my "Make your Own" cookbook series.  and today I am going to share my Minestrone Soup recipe with you.  There is nothing that warms your heart during these cold winter days than a nice bowl of homemade soup!  Minestrone has become one of our favorites not only because it is good for you, but because it just plain tastes good!!

Garden Vegetable Minestrone Soup

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 cup green beans, trimmed and chopped
2 stalks celery
3 carrots, sliced

1 zucchini, sliced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon salt

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes

6 cups chicken broth

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup shell pasta

1/4 cup grated Romano cheese

Directions:

Heat olive oil in large pot or dutch oven over medium high heat.  Add onion and cook until translucent. Add garlic, green beans, celery and carrots and cook until they are soft.  Add zucchini, oregano, basil and salt and cook until zucchini softens.  Add the tomatoes and broth and bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low and simmer 10 minutes.  Stir in kidney beans and pasta and cook until pasta is tender.  Top each serving with Romano cheese.

Such a delicious and hearty meal and made even better when served with Garlic bread.  

Yields 6 servings.

Enjoy!

Kristii

Step by Step Saturday with Glitz Design

Happy Saturday dear friends!!  It's time for a new Step by Step Saturday post, and since Thanksgiving has come and gone, I think it's time to start thinking about Christmas!! Today, I have a quick and easy snowman card and matching ornament made using Glitz Design's Hello Friend 6x6 paper pad.

The idea for this little card and ornament set started with Glitz Design's Hello Friend Envelope paper from the 6x6 pad.  I am totally in love with the postal border and the beautiful roses in the corner!!

Step 1. Cut a piece of white cardstock to 4 1/4" x 11" and fold in half.  Place the die on the cardstock lining up the line on the die with the edge of the paper and run through your die cut machine to create the card base.

Step 2.  Die Cut three snowmen from the Envelope paper strategically placing the rose in the bottom, right corner of the die. Then, cut one snowman out of chipboard for the ornament base.  Glue one of the die cut patterned papers to the front of the card base and glue the other two patterned paper cuts to the front and back of the ornament to cover.

Step 3.  Embellish the front of your card with a hat, arms and mittens.
Step 4.  Stamp the face and color.
Step 5.  Add ribbon, flowers, pearls, punched greenery, and stamped sentiment.

Step 6.  Decorate the front of the ornament as desired making sure to cut out two hats and four mittens to embellish the back side of the ornament as well.  When attaching the hat, add a knotted piece of twine to hang.  Decorate the back of your ornament as desired.

Supplies Used:

Glitz Design Hello Friend 6x6 Paper Pad

Chipboard

Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White Cardstock, twine and Cream Felt

Papertrey Ink Shape Up Dies and Stamps: Snowman

McGill Greenery Punch

Roses, ribbon, buttons and pearls from my stash

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a very Glitzy day!!

Kristii

So Grateful with Glitz Design

Happy Thanksgiving week sweet friends!  We've been celebrating gratefulness at Glitz Design this month and I thought I'd add a little pink goodness to the celebration!  There's nothing like getting out of the box and creating something totally unexpected!!  I am usually a very traditional person, so creating a pink Thanksgiving card was a lot of fun and totally off the wall!  I do have to say, thought, I'm kind of loving it!!

I used Glitz Design's Hello Friend 6x6 paper pad and a Whatnots frame for the inspiration for this card.  Love, love, love the colors of these papers and embellishments!  I layered the backside of the Clouds paper onto a white card base, and then I layered the Clouds paper underneath the Whatnot frame and glued the frame onto the card base.  Next, I stamped the leaves onto white paper and cut them out.  I die cut two rustic cream felt acorns and then I die cut two more acorns using white paper covered with Hello Friend tapes.  The tapes make a great contrasting top on the acorns!  I added some ribbon, a grateful tag, and a Happy Thanksgiving tag to embellish the card.

The next card celebrates friendship.  I am so grateful for my friends and I need to make sure they know how much I care about them, so I think this card is perfect for this month's theme!

One again, I used Hello Friend papers and embellies.  I am so loving the new tapes!  They are definitely a new favorite for sure!!  I stamped the Hero Arts Musical Walk onto the Clouds paper and covered it with a sweet circular Peek a Boo.  I added a stamped border on the bottom third of the white cardstock and added two layers of patterned paper from the 6x6 Hello Friend Pad.  I made some banners using the sweet Coral Polka Tape.  I added a little birdie from the Hello Friend Paper Garland to embellish the banner.  I love the garland so much, I am using it sparingly so I don't run out too quickly!!  I just love adding a little bit here and there!  I added a stamped butterfly, Puffy Word Stickers, hand dyed seam binding, and some little rolled flowers to embellish.

Supplies Used:
Glitz Design Hello Friend 6x6 Pad
Glitz Design Hello Friend Patterened Paper:  Clouds
Glitz Design Hello Friend Whatnots
Glitz Design Hello Friend Peek A Boos
Glitz Design Hello Friend Puffy Word Stickers
Glitz Design Hello Friend Rubber Stamps
Glitz Design Hello Friend Paper Garland
Glitz Design Hello Friend Tapes

Other Supplies:  PTI Stamper's Select White Cardstock; PTI Rustic Cream Felt: PTI Gratitude Journal Stamps; PTI Kraft, Berry Sorbet, Fine Linen, and Dark Chocolate Ink. Hand Dyed Seam Binding, PTI Autumn Acorn Stamps and Pearl

Thank you so much for stopping by and I wish you a very blessed Thanksgiving!
Kristii

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hi there sweet friends!  It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just a few days away!  This fall has gone by so quickly and I'm sure those of you who are well acquainted with me, know that I'm ready to start putting out Christmas decorations and begin my Christmas baking!  I love everything about the Christmas season!!  Just so you know, I've already started on my 12 Days of Christmas posts and I can't wait to start sharing those with you!!  Since it's a little early to be in Christmas mode, however, I thought I would share one of my favorite fall recipes with you, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies.    I make these cookies regularly throughout the fall season and my family just loves them!!  I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!!  This recipe will go in my own copy of my Family Favorites Cookbooks that I created over the summer break.  I still have a cookbook that is available in my Etsy store and I have plans for a new design coming in the next several days.  Enjoy!!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 c. pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp. ginger
1 c. chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy.  Beat in eggs.  Stir in pumpkin and vanilla.  Blend in half the flour and add baking powder and spices.  Stir in the rest of the flour.  Drop by tablespoonfuls onto baking sheet.  Bake at 375 for 12-14 minutes.  Makes 2 1/2 dozen.

Thank you so much for stopping by!!! I hope you have a wonderful Monday!!
Kristii

A Grateful Heart with Glitz Design

Hi there Glitzy friends!!  I don't know about you, but for me, November brings a season of gratefulness.  So often the days fly by and the hustle and bustle of life is so crazy that I forget to take time to appreciate all that I have.  I have so much to be thankful for and I decided that I should keep record of my heart's deepest gratitude and thankfulness in a custom-made shabby chic Gratitude Journal.

I used a genuine Moleskine Journal and Glitz Design's Hello Friend Papers, Stamps and Embellies to create this sweet little journal that's full of shabby chic goodness and lots of little surprises.

The inside cover has a little pocket that holds two little stamped tags.  The first five pages of the journal are numbered with sweet little embellishments and grateful sayings.

I left lots of room on each page to record all my grateful thoughts and feelings.

 I do want to make sure that I am grateful each and every day!  It's so important I feel remembering what you're grateful for keeps you grounded and I'm certain it's the secret of true happiness!

 Having an attitude of gratitude is definitely a choice I want to make every moment of every day!

Count your many blessings....

 name them one by one....

I even added a traditional Thanksgiving Hymn to the journal!  I love my vintage hymnal!!

The back pocket of the journal is covered with a Hello Friend Journaling Sticker and is ready for my little bits of ephemera to add to the spirit of gratefulness.

I also added some of Glitz Design's Hello Friend Paper Layers in between the pages to add character and shabby chic goodness to the journal.  Sooo fun!  Glitz Design Paper Layers are always a favorite of mine!!

I also made a little matching card to go along with the journal in case I want to give it away as a gift:

I ran some kraft cardstock through the crimper and painted the edges with an acrylic paint dabber.  I added some Glitz Design Crepe Trim and Prima lace to the edge.  I embellished with layered stickers, stamped butterflies and some little banner elements.

The  sentiment was stamped and I cut the ends to resemble a banner and added some seam binding trim.  Very shabby chic and so fun to make!! I love Glitz Design!!

Supplies Used:
Glitz Design Hello Friend 6x6 Paper Pad
Glitz Design Hello Friend Layered Stickers
Glitz Design Hello Friend Title Stickers
Glitz Design Hello Friend Paper Layers
Glitz Design Hello Friend Giant Rhinestones
Glitz Design Hello Friend Paper Garland
Glitz Design Hello Friend Rubber Stamps
Glitz Design Hello Friend Puffy Word
Glitz Design Hello Friend Whatnots
Glitz Design Hello Friend Crepe Trim
Glitz Design Hello Friend Tape
Glitz Design Teeny Alphas Coral

Other Supplies:  Papertrey Ink Gratitude Journal Stamps; Papertrey Ink Kraft and Rustic Cream Cardstock and ribbon; Papertrey Ink Berry Sorbet Ink and Ribbon; Papertrey Ink Melon Berry, Rustic Cream and Simply Chartreuse Felt; Prima Lace; Hand Dyed Seam Binding; 

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a very Glitzy Day!!!
Kristii