Cooking With Cricut Challenge #82- National Card and Letter Writing Month!

Happy Wednesday and welcome to another wonderful Cooking with Cricut challenge! It is National Card and Letter Writing Month and so our challenge to you is to create something for yourself or someone else in the spirit of writing letters, the old fashioned way! With the speed of technology today, this may be a true challenge for some, but I remember the good ol' days of pen-pals and enchanging letters with my bff in California for many years very fondly.  Nothing compares!

I made a traditional stationary set for my 4 year old niece, Hannah. Although her letter writing skills may not yet be the most sophisticated, I hope it will encourage her to use her pretty butterfly stationary for whatever her little heart desires, practice her alphabet or even draw a picture! I love the idea of my sister helping her address a letter and sending it off in the mail- signed, sealed and delivered :)

 I made my stationary set with the Tie The Knot cartridge (stationary paper, butterflies, sponged the negative image of butterfly in the corner of each envelope, 2 ea in matching colors with the stationary)

Paper for stationary holder: Webster's Pages "Your Life. Beautiful.", sentiment from My Creative Time

I hope you will join in our challenge this week and inspire someone you know to write a letter! And you might be our next Top Chef if you do! Visit the Cooking With Cricut blog for more crafting ideas and challenge details. Thanks for visiting and have a creative day!

MCT 12 Days of Christmas- Day 10!

Hello and welcome to day 10! If you arrived here from Miss LeAnne's wonderful blog, then you are in the right place! If not, head over to Emma's blog HERE to see the fabulous inspiration she has for all to enjoy and to see today's GIVEAWAY!

The word for today is S I M P L E

 I know, not a common word around this time of year! The days til Christmas are getting shorter and my to-do list is getting longer! This project is a great little gift idea for co-workers, teachers, neighbors, friends or just to decorate your holiday home!

EASY HAND STAMPED CANDLES

A super simple technique that takes less than 5 minutes per candle and I really like the results :)

I used MCT "Merry Christmas" and the little snowman stamps from All Around Christmas set.

To make your own custom candles:

* stamp your image or sentiment in any color onto white tissue paper (if using white candles)

* cut image out carefully as tissue paper is very delicate

* place cut image where you want on the candle and hold down gently with a tool like a popcicle stick. Don't hold it down with your fingers, it burns!

* use a heating tool to go over the image keeping it about 6-8" above the candle--don't heat it too close or your candle will start to melt too fast.

* as it heats up you will see your image start to melt into the candle and when it changes shades underneath the tissue paper, its done! May take a lil practice with a small votive candle first just to get the feel but this is so easy!

* decorate candles as desired!

***12 Days of Christmas Give Away Alert***

To qualify for ALL the AMAZING giveaways for the next 12 days, you must comment on every blog in this hop! You will have until Tues, Dec 13th @ midnight to have all of your comments in! VERY IMPORTANT, PLEASE LEAVE A WAY FOR US TO CONTACT YOU IF YOU ARE ONE OF THE WINNER'S!

There are some AMAZING giveaways for this special 12 day event & some SURPRISES to help celebrate "My Creative Time's" One Year Anniversary! Yep, Emma released her 1st set of stamps one year ago! So make sure you are tuned in because this is ONE hop you do NOT want to miss!;)

Here is the full blog hop line up:
Emma~ http://www.creativetimeforme.com/
Cassandra ~ http://www.ctimz3.blogspot.com/
Cathryn ~ http://inthepinkcathryn.blogspot.com/
Cindy ~ http://cindylee77.blogspot.com/
Jeanne ~ http://www.thecricutcorner.com/
Katie ~ http://www.craftingwithkatie.com/
Leanne ~ http://createdbyleanne.blogspot.com/
Linsey ~ You Are Here :)
Liz ~ http://www.lizspaperloft.com/
Nancy ~ http://scrappingoutofcontrol.blogspot.com/
Nikki ~ http://scrappinnavywife.blogspot.com/
Rosy ~ http://sweetdelightspapernmore.blogspot.com/
Ruthie ~ http://septemberninth.blogspot.com/
Shar ~ http://scrapendipity.blogspot.com/
Tracy ~ http://tracyscricutcorner.blogspot.com/
Trell ~ http://polkadotsandpaint.blogspot.com/
Veronica ~ http://www.vkcreate.blogspot.com/

Thanks for visiting me today! Your next stop on the MCT blog hop is Miss LIZ

MCT 12 Days of Christmas- Day 3!

Happy Saturday everyone! Wow, it's already day 3 of our My Creative Time 12 Days of Christmas bonanza, which means we are another day closer to the big one and time is not slowly down any! If you have arrived from LeAnne's blog then you are in the right place! If NOT, start at Emma's blog HERE to see the awesomeness she has created today and to see what the GIVEAWAY is for today! Be sure to comment on the entire DT line up during the blog hop for your chance to win some early presents that I bet are right up your crafty little alley! ;)

As the holidays near, I know there will be more visitors popping into my home and there always seems to be those few people who are so thoughtful and give me a holiday gift and I have nothing for them--yikes!!! It's good to have some small holiday gifts on hand for these particular occasions and today I'm sharing a couple of projects that I hope will make for nice little gifts. 
I actually purchased nothing special to make my Beary Merry Gift Baskets. I collect bears, especially Boyd's and every year I seem to add a few more to my holiday collection. I like to give these mini Boyd's bears out at Christmas because they are always so adorable, festive and inexpensive (at least if you get them from QVC like I do hehe) but usally just throw them into a paper gift bag or something similarly boring. I scavenged my craft room for a couple small baskets, found 1 that I liked how it was but also wanted to do 1 in white, so I just altered the one below--what a difference a few coats of paint make lol! 

And who wants to buy expensive tissue paper with only a few sheets in it just 'cus it has a design on it?---NOT me! I like to make my own and the dollar store always had a huge package of it in plain white ready to hand stamp and customize to your hearts delight! For my tissue paper I used MCT's All Around Christmas, Classmates Valentines (bear w/ heart) and Everyday Crossword & Bingo (mini star). TIP- if you make your own, don't be skimpy--stamp alot all over it or it will look sparse and unfinished.

 Mixed Holiday Sentiments stamp set for "Have a Beary Merry Chrismtas" and Fancy label and die set.

Supplies used: baskets, white paint, glitter, white tissue paper, stamps and ink of choice (here My Creative Time stamps, Stampin Up ink in Real Red and Bashful Blue), for the plastic pine sprigs, glitter star and berries I just bought some holiday florals and glittery strands in the wreath isle at Joann's then deconstructed them; Ribbon/trim, mini holiday boyd's bears, peppermint puffs

That's all my stuff for today!

***12 Days of Christmas Give Away Alert***

To qualify for ALL the AMAZING giveaways for the next 12 days, you must comment on every blog in this hop! You will have until Tues, Dec 13th @ midnight to have all of your comments in! VERY IMPORTANT, PLEASE LEAVE A WAY FOR US TO CONTACT YOU IF YOU ARE ONE OF THE WINNER'S!

There are some AMAZING giveaways for this special 12 day event & some SURPRISES to help celebrate "My Creative Time's" One Year Anniversary! Yep, Emma released her 1st set of stamps one year ago! So make sure you are tuned in because this is ONE hop you do NOT want to miss!;)

Here is the full blog hop line up:
Emma~ http://www.creativetimeforme.com/
Cassandra ~ http://www.ctimz3.blogspot.com/
Cathryn ~ http://inthepinkcathryn.blogspot.com/
Cindy ~ http://cindylee77.blogspot.com/
Jeanne ~ http://www.thecricutcorner.com/
Katie ~ http://www.craftingwithkatie.com/
Leanne ~ http://createdbyleanne.blogspot.com/
Linsey ~ You Are Here :)
Liz ~ http://www.lizspaperloft.com/
Nancy ~ http://scrappingoutofcontrol.blogspot.com/

Nikki ~ http://scrappinnavywife.blogspot.com/

Ruthie ~ http://septemberninth.blogspot.com/

Shar ~ http://scrapendipity.blogspot.com/

Tracy ~ http://tracyscricutcorner.blogspot.com/

Trell ~ http://polkadotsandpaint.blogspot.com/

Veronica ~ http://www.vkcreate.blogspot.com/

Thanks for visiting me today! Your next stop on the MCT blog hop is Miss LIZ!

Bloom Into Greatness Memo Holder

Hello friends, happy Tuesday. I designed this memo holder for my brothers girlfriend, Heather who will be graduating in June. I love to create my own patterned paper and these lovely flowers from Clear Dollar Stamps called Sunflower Songs was just perfect for the main panel of the cover. I stamped a variety of sunflowers and centers in pretty in pink, summer sun and bashful blue then framed it with these cool antique looking metal photo corners from Making Memories. I wanted the cheerful sunflowers to remain mostly uncovered, so I tried to only embellish the lower right corner with goodies. I'll add this to a basket full of treats and gifts for a nice graduation gift for Heather.

close up of embellies: metal antique photo corners and metal tab by Making Memories, bling n dazzle flower (gina K, pink gem, sm/lrg oval punches, scallop scissors, chipboard H, chunky disco glitter and diamond stickles, pop dots, Scor-Pal, memo pad for inside or mini calendar

That's all for me today, so thanks for stopping by my blog! Hope your day is blooming with greatness too!

CAS and MFT and everything nice!

that's what wonderful papercraft projects are made of! : ) Here are a couple of projects I've done in the past day or so. I made my first coaster gift box from my most favorite addition to date- The FABulous WASSAIL Christmas paper line from Basic Grey! I covered each coaster with a piece of wassail paper, which I also Cuttlebugged with the Swiss Dots folder for added texture. I followed the wondefully simple tutorial by Taylor V. This flower, which I strived to make resemble a mulberry poinsettia, is from the beautiful new set called Intrique, from Clear Artisitc Stamps. I first embossed the flower in gold, then colored it in with Copic Ciao markers #'s Copics RV13, R59, G94YG67 and the colorless blender. I added touches of metellic shimmer over the poinsettia as well. I filled my gift box with holiday cranberry and vanilla frosted animal cookies, which I will send to a super sweet friend for Christmas.

Stamps: Intrigue (big flower) and Joy Of The Season (greeting) from Clear Artistic Stamps, designed by Belinda Landtroop
Paper: white cs; Wassail dp from BG
Ink: craft white, rich cocoa, purely pomegranate, old olive
Accessories: Cuttlebug and Swiss Dots folder, Copics RV13, R59, G94YG67 and colorless blender, scallop circle punch, Cropadile, gold ep and heat gun, 1 3/8" circle punch, square scallop punch, old olive polytwill ribbon, gold thread (Gina K), 5 square coasters

I also tried out, once again, for My Favorite Things guest designer --this time for January. Michelle's challenge was to alter a store bought or recycled piece and I chose to alter this plain cork board into a fun message board for any sweet girl.

I used MFT's Here's The Scoop stamps to create push pins for the board. I stamped "here's the scoop" on each note (which is simple copy paper cut into squares). To better preserve the push pins, I added a couple layers of crystal laquer to each ice cream cone and sundae. I think this turned out ok, but I totally saw other entries for this challenge that trumped me to the max! I have my own personal favorite so far, but if you want to try out too, you still have until tomorrow, Sunday night to enter--check out the details HERE. Thanks for visiting me today! I hope you are enjoyig your weekend and now I'm off to see what everyone else is up to! Hugs and happy crafting!

Tea Time Card & Tin

Hello and happy day to you! I hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend, my friends! Here is a little card and tea tin gift set using my new Teacup Fairies stamp set from Clear Artistic Stamps. Oh, this set is just darling and full of whimsy and fantasy--so much fun! Perfect for all the new Gina K. tea tins I have too! I stamped one of the teacups from this set for the main image on the card and also the blue flowers to create a patterned design. The dragonfly was stamped, cut and popped up for dimension. The pretty dp is from Quick Quotes and I couldn't resist adding that heart stick pin, which was part of Joanie's massive blog candy package that I won! Thanks so much for visiting today! ~Hugs and Happy Stamping~

Gift Bag

I needed a bag for this green tea bath soak and this came together quite easily.

The finished bag measures 7 1/2"L x 3 1/4W x 2 1/2"D. It uses 1 piece of cardstock or sturdy patterned paper 9"x12". Score at 3/4", 2", 3 1/4", 6 1/2", 7 3/4", and 9". Turn and score at 1 1/2". I probably would never have figured this out had I not had my new Scor-Pal at my side! That thing is off the chain! Cut slits up the 1 1/2" scores (no need to cut at the 2" and 7 3/4" scores) to fold and create the bottom of the bag. Make all the score lines crisp and form the bag together with red double-sided sticky thin strip (note: the 2" and 7 3/4" scores will be folded in to form the creases of the bag.) Decorate the front of bag and fill it with a nice gift or treat! I wish I would have used Melanie's tin frame stamp longways, but I had already put down adhesive and it wasn't comin' off without a good fight, so rather than ruin the bag, I settled for it like this...next time. Thanks for swingin' by! Happy evening!

p.s.- since I only did 5 fun facts about myself previously and recieved some guff about it, here's 2 more:

• I love the snow, but I hate to be cold--my dh's been trying to get me to snowboard for years and the answer remains...no. I worship the sun, but I mostly fake-n-bake to get tan in the summer.
• I want to visit Tombstone, AZ more than anything! I know, it's wierd and my Grandmother's says it's just another tourist town anyway, but I don't care. I want to see the Birdcage Theater, the OK Corral, The Oriental, all of it! I kind of like keeping it on a pedastal in my head since I'll most likely be disappointed if and when I ever get there.

Ok, happy girls?! J/K, you know that. You weren't gonna let me slide, though were ya--such sweeties! hugs!

Tag-N-Tin Gift

Hey friends! Here's a fun one--a mini tag book that fits perfectly inside an altoid tin for a cute little gift! SplitCoastStampers Ways To Use It Challenge this week is to use tags, so I went on the search for something great...I didn't have to look very far! On Scor-Pal I found this project with a simple tutorial by Valerie Stangle (she's so fabulous). When I saw that it used an altoid tin, that was it! I got to partake in today's WT challenge and use my new "What's In Your Tin" sets, Yay!!!

Each tag in my mini book is good for *1 free* something or other and they never expire, so they are redeemable forever! A fun gift for anyone special in your life, just cater it to his/her needs. Cool! Visit Valerie's tutorial and make a tag-n-tin gift too! If you do, I would love to see it, so please let me know where it can be viewed! Thanks for visiting today! ~hugs and happy altering~