Criss Cross Pointsettia

Criss cross...applesauce. No, criss cross... pointsettia. I must digress for a moment and say that I really do not like the whole criss cross applesauce saying for getting children to sit what has always been traditionally called "Indian Style". All the political correctness is so absurd. Yes, the Indians did sit cross legged, and so what if we attribute that to them. It isn't in the least derrogatory. Okay, enough about that. Sorry. In my attempt to put a cute title on this card, I had to touch on something that irritates me. Not a good way to start a post.

Anyway, here is a cute and super easy little Christmas card that would make a fabulous photo holder for those of you who like to send cards with pictures of your children or whole family front and center for everyone to see and celebrate with.
This is called a Criss Cross card. You can go to my sidebar under project ideas and see the tutorial. It is super easy. It uses a whole sheet of cardstock for each card, but you know the possibilities are endless with this card. Use it to hold a small flat gift, a gift card, a photo, even tuck a little money in there. These don't take long and can be embellished for birthdays, and any occasion. Try one today.
This card uses last year's InColors of Cranberry Crisp and True Thyme. It would work well with any color. I also used some of the last of my last year's holiday thyme designer paper. We have the same paper this year in the regular catalog under a new name and with beautiful shades of green and blue called Wintergreen. The double sided paper is a must for this project if you use it to embellish your criss cross flaps. Because you cut the piece in half and have to flip one of the pieces you cut over to have it lay on the card. You could also stamp the flaps too for less paper cost. You could use just ribbon for the band, or leave that part off. The choice is up to you. I used the In the Spotlight set for the pointsetta. I stamped it, then used the awesome 5 point flower punch and then scored the leaves so they could be shaped to have some dimension. I put them together with a nifty gold brad for the center of the flower, and there you go. Other items used were the round tab punch, and the 3/4 inch circle punch for the little snowflake.

World Card Making Day....

Yes, there is officially a World Card Making Day, and it is fast approaching. The first Saturday or weekend of October is World Card Making Day. What happens on this day? Well go to the official site of World Card Making Day to see all the details. This is the official start of the holiday card making season, so get yourself ready by thinking of what you would like to make for your Christmas and other holiday cards. Do you want to do a card that displays a family photo? Do you want an elegant card, or maybe something a little more whimsical in style or color? Try to start planning now, and maybe on World Card Making day, you could play with some layouts using those ideas. I would love to see what you come up with. Feel free to email me a picture of what you came up with.

I would also love to help in getting you the supplies for your holiday card making or gift giving supplies. Anyone who places an order for holiday stamps, inks or papers from me during the World Card Making Day weekend will get FREE SHIPPING on their order. That is a 10% savings. Check out the holiday stamps in our regular Idea Book and Catalog or our Holiday Mini Catalog.

Also Stampin' UP! is having a special for Oct. 4-8th on their Simply Sent Card making kits. All 5 Simply Sent kits will be 20% off for those 4 days. Let me know if you want to order those no later than the 7th so I can get your orders in. I will count any Simply Sent order towards free shipping too. The Simply Sent card kits are a great gift to give, a great way to get started stamping, and most are easily used with other Stampin' Up! stamp sets. Try one today. At 20% off, it is a great bargain.

Season of Joy snow and tree

Super simple and easy Season of Joy cards.
3 card stock colors : olive, real red, and white; river rock, real red, and white (although I think next time I would use vanilla).
You could easily leave the celery grosgrain ribbon off the joy card, but you definitely need the red gingham for the river rock tree card.
Season of joy set for $26.95.
3 ink colors (olive, celery and real red; wasabi, real red, river rock)

took me about 5 min. to do two of each of these.

Pine Bough Peaceful wishes

Here is another super simple card.
Peaceful wishes $23.95
Handsome hunter and ruby red cardstock ($5.50 for each pack will get you 48 cards)
Whisper white ($6.50 for 40 sheets)
Hunter and ruby red ink pads ($5.25 each)
Dazzling diamonds and 2 way glue ($4.95 and $3.95 each).
White is 2 3/4 x 2 1/2 and ruby red is 1/4 inch bigger on both sides.

Super simple and quick. You could use any combo of red and green shades for this one. I just picked these two as I hardly ever use these colors.

Mistletoe Simple Christmas card

See I promised you simple Christmas cards that are easy to mass produce. Here is entry no. 1. to go along with the rest of the Peaceful wishes cards you will find on the blog. They are all so simple, and a single pack of paper of each color will give you at least 48 cards in a flash.

Here are the stats on this card.
I used 12 x 12 whisper white cardstock. You cut each sheet into four pieces of 6x6. Score each piece at 3" to fold in half neatly. (whisper white 12x 12 is $7.50 for 20 sheets which will yield 80 cards)
Garden Green and real red 2x 6 strip (Garden green and real red 12 x 12 is $7.50 for 20 sheets)
Garden Green ink pad ($5.25)
White gel pen ($3.95) to color in the berries.
Mistletoe wheel + handle is $6.50 and $3.95
Real red grosgrain ribbon (narrow at 15 yards for $4.95) I used 18" for each card. You will get approx. 30 cards from one spool.
Now I used the Peaceful Wishes greeting from the Peaceful wishes stamp set which is $23.95, but you could use any thin greeting you could find or handwrite it. There are also probably rub-ons you could buy with greetings on it, but those could get pricey. If you order the Peaceful wishes set too, you'll have more options with the same layout, using elements from that. You could use the pine leaves to go across the green strip which you can "ice" with dazzling diamonds glitter ($4.95 and a 2 way glue pen $3.50). You could also use just the stamp set and not the wheel, and use the mistletoe sprig instead.

Christmas Card Extravaganza... part one

I am co-hosting a Christmas card stamp camp/extravaganza in Oct. with another demonstrator. We are going to be making 25 Christmas cards for $25. We provide all the materials for about 13 different cards. I have had some interest, but I know that time to attend one of these on weekends is short, so not everyone could come. I also now that maybe someone might want to just make Christmas cards of all one design, and therefore this might not be of interest.
Time is short but I know a lot of us are into doing homemade and crafty things for the holiday season. I hope to inspire you for the rest of this month and in Oct. with some great Christmas card ideas you can easily make en mass for your own needs. I will provide info. on supplies used, and cost of making about 48 of each card. If you like what you see and want to get supplies, contact me and let me know what card you want. I can give you cutting information as well. I am also going to be posting groupings of cards for each Christmas stamp set I use, to show versatility of some of these sets.

Among other items I will be posting here soon are some great gift items, ornament items, and other information. I am always thinking more ambitiously in what I want to accomplish with respect to the time I actually get to do these things, but I hope to make a good effort and keep my family time and my time with God my top priorities. So be checking back soon. I will be posting the Christmas card extravaganza cards on the side bar after the first class on Oct. 13th. Be looking for them then.

Treats for Care Packages, Small Gifts, and Holiday parties

It's almost that time of year to be thinking of sending small goodies to college students for their exams (mid-terms and finals), what to give co-workers or friends for last minute gifts, and even a quick tasty treat for a holiday party. I have a few suggestions that I have found over the last few years, that are yummy, inexpensive, and can be packaged creatively in short time.

Here are a few:

Bake a Cake in a Coffee Cup! (this one is great for college kids, and you can pair it with any large coffee mug with their school logo---just make sure it can go in the microwave so no metal print on it)
You will need a standard box of cake mix and 1 regular box of instant pudding.
Some flavor combos that are good are:
lemon cake +lemon pudding
vanilla cake + chocolate, vanilla, banana cream, lemon, cheesecake, or white chocolate pudding
chocolate cake +chocolate pudding or white chocolate pudding
spice cake + butterscotch pudding
strawberry cake + white chocolate or cheesecake pudding

Now here are directions for making this mix:
1. empty cake mix and pudding flavor into a large mixing bowl and whisk them together thoroughly. You will get about 4- 41/2 cups of dry mix. This will make about 8-9 cup cake mixes.

2. Place 1/2 cup of this mixture into a zip-top bag (sandwich size is good). You will want to squeeze out as much air from the bag as possible. I find that putting the bag on the edge of the counter where the edge is just above the top of the ingredients works for pushing out all the air before sealing.

3. Continue making these packets until all the mix is used up or you can't get anymore 1/2 cup servings.

Glaze:
1/4 cup powdered sugar and 1 Tbsp. flavoring if you like (cocoa, powedered orange or cherry drink mix, or dry creamer flavors like hazelnut, vanilla, mint, etc.)
You will use this amount for each cup cake mix you package. Place this in a zip top snack size bag.

Directions for those receiving this mix (you will want to type or handwrite this for each mix).
Empty contents of large packet into a plain coffee cup with a 12 oz. capacity.
Add 1 egg white, 2 teaspoons of oil, and 1 tablespoon of water to this mix. Stir well.
Microwave 2 minutes on standard power. Let cake cool 1 minute. You can squeeze glaze on it in the cup, or take the cake out of the cup, cut in half and then drizzle glaze 0n.
While cake is baking add a very few drops of water to the glaze bag. Squeeze bag to mix the ingredients. You can add more water as needed one or two drops as a time until glaze consistency. You can push the glaze into the corner of the bag, snip off the corner with scissors, and drizzle out the glaze onto the cake.

This is very yummy and doable in a dorm room. Make these for a birthday gift by adding sprinkles and a candle for your child to put on the cake.

Chocolate fudge mix in a cup:
1/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon finely chopped pecans or walnuts if wanted
1/2 cup mini marshmallows

Place first 3 ingredients into a zipper sandwich bag.
Place mini marshmallows into another zipper bag. Staple bags together.
Attach instructions below:
1. empty contents of chocolate chip bag into a plain coffee cup
2. Add 2 1/2 Tablespoons of butter or margarine cut into at least 2 pieces. Place butter on top of chocolate. Microwave 3 min.
3. Add marshmallows and stir quickly and thoroughly to melt and mix in.
4. Let cool in the cup for 5 minutes. Then place in refrigerator for only 10 min. for fudge to set.
5. unmold from cup and cut into about 6-8 pieces. yummy.


Iced Mocha Cappuccino mix:
2 Tablespoons coffee creamer
2 Tablespoons Nesquick chocolate drink mix
2 tsp. powdered sugar
2 tsp. instant coffee
Place all ingredients into a zipper sandwich bag.
Place baggie into a cup like container that has a secure snap on or screw on lid (how about a canning jar, or a tupperware /rubbermaid drink container)
Add directions and a straw.
Directions:
Empty contents of baggie into the cup.
Add 1 cup of milk. Stir with the straw.
Add a few ice cubes
Snap or screw on lid and shake this mixture very fast for 15 seconds over a sink just in case it leaks.
enjoy!

Iced Cappuccino
2 Tablespoons coffee creamer (flavored like Amaretto, French vanilla)
1 Tablespoon powedered sugar
2 teaspoons instant coffee
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Use same instructions for Iced Mocha Cappuccino recipe above.


The previous four recipes are from Jackie Gannaway. She has lots of cookbooks for gift mixes.

Here is a yummy cheesecake ball recipe. You can experiment with lots of add in on this one.

1 cup of sugar (powedered or regular)
2 packages of cream cheese
1/2 stick of butter
1 tsp. of vanilla
(you can add in about 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips, peanutbutter chips, crushed oreos, crushed peppermints, or crushed lemon drops to this)
Cream together the cream cheese, butter and sugar. Add mix ins. Divide mixture in half. Shape each half into two balls on plastic wrap. Wrap tightly and refrigerate for a couple of hours or until firm. You can roll the cheesecake ball in the mix ins listed above, or chopped nuts or crushed cookie crumbs.
Serve with sweet butter cookies, graham crackers, vanilla wafers, fruit, or slices of pound cake. It is awesome.

Here is another version:
Peanutbutter chocolate chip:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup peanutbutter
2 packages of cream cheese
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Mix as stated above. Roll in mini chocolate chips before serving or chopped peanuts.


Caramel pecan:
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
2 packages of cream cheese
1/2 stick of butter
3/4 cup of chopped pecans
Mix up and proceed as above instructions.

Key lime or Margarita cheeseball:
1/3 cup sugar
1 box of lime jello
1 tsp. key lime juice
2 packages of cream cheese
1/2 stick of butter
(roll in toasted coconut or graham crumbs, or coconut and macadamias)

You can make these into little bite size cheeseballs for a party tray too. Just scoop out using a small cookie or ice cream scoop (Pampered chef makes a good one in their small size) when the mixture has chilled until it is firm. It's messy but shape the scoops into a ball and roll in chopped nuts or crumbs.

You can turn these recipes into little mousse tartletts by taking out the butter, adding only one and 1/2 packages of cream cheese. Add a little milk to the cheese mixture to thin it out a little (about 1/4 cup or less). Fold in a 8 0z. container of cool-whip that has been thawed. Pipe this into phyllo shells, brownie cups, or tart shells. Or line the bottom of mini muffin cups with a teaspoon of graham cracker crumb crust and pipe in the filling.


You can even package up these cheesecake ball mixes for gifts. Just package the sugar/sugars and any other dry add-ins in a zipper bag. Place chopped up nuts or other finishing garnish to roll the cheesecake balls in in a zipper bag (approx. 1/2 cup per cheeseball). Staple or tie together with ribbon and the instructions that tell them to add the 2 packages of cream cheese and 1/2 stick of butter. Place these in a pretty gift bag and voila, your gift giving dilemmas are over. Makes a great hostess gift to give to those holiday parties you go to.

I'll post a recipe or two for cakes baked in wide mouth canning jars that keep for a couple of months in a day or two. I have to go now as it is getting late.

christmas card stamp camp

Here are the cards Beth and I came up with for the Christmas Card extravaganza. I think they are fun. I added a picture to show how to attach the spinner element on your navy blue card. Simply take the linen thread and sandwich it between the circles with some monoadhesive or similar double stick tape. Then attach the strings on the card front lining up the snowflake with the center of the punch out part of your card. Then glue the white strip on top, lining up the punch out edges. It really is easy.
Contact me if you need help.

deja vu Christmas

Yes, you are seeing same layout, same colors, but look.... the stamp set is different. Another way to change up a fun card with some non-traditional colors. Love it.

soft sky snowflake spots

I love the new In Colors this year from Stampin' UP! They are so pretty, bright, and so mixable. Here is another holiday card that I made that just doesn't show up well in the scan. It has a glitter window made with packing tape and dazzling diamonds (yes, my whole craft room and myself glitter now that I have been making Christmas cards) and a circle punch. It is pretty and wintery.

Sandy Claws....Jingle Shells

Isn't this just too cute? I found this sketch on Splitcoast and thought what a cute and fun Christmas card. Okay, I know we are trying for cards that capture the true reason for Christmas, but this is just too fun. Lots of bright cheery colors too of pomegranite, wasabi and pretty in pink.