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I know that halloween & Thanksgiving have passed!

I know that Halloween & Thanksgiving have been & gone but I found these on Splitcoast stampers.
In the UK we would use Elizabeth Shaw Mint Crisps.


The designer is Mary I think these are so cute & such a clever use of punches I have marked her blog to pop back too.

What type of muffin are you?

You Are a Blueberry Muffin

You are a nurturing, domestic, homey person. Of all the types, you are the most likely to make your own muffins at home. You don't like to rock the boat, and you're most content when you're making everyone else happy. You are very loyal. You'll defend your family and friends, even if you secretly disapprove of what they're doing. You tend to be a bit shy and withdrawn. You don't make friends quickly or easily. But once you do make a good friend, the chances are high that you'll be friends for life.

What Kind of Muffin Are You?

Whats your elf name?

Your Elf Name Is...

Minty Fluffernutter

What's Your Elf Name?

Christmas Story for people having a bad day:

When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure.

Then Mrs Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more.

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where.

Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.

Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drank all the cider and hidden the liquor. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree.
The angel said very cheerfully, 'Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?'

And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree

Just a quickie

I have been to work today and we had a very very busy day, we had the lovely
Dawn in from Bramwells demonstrating the Cuttlebug machine & the lovely spring Inkadinkado rubber stamps. It was great to catch up with Dawn and swap holiday stories, reminiscing about Greece was lovely and I can so understand where Shirley Valentine comes from I fell in love with Greece.


So here is the quickie card I made this morning again inspired by Dawn.

Dawn is back at Jarrolds again on 7th February & again on the 7th March.

A little of what you fancy does you good

As they say a little of what you fancy does you good & I fancy some Raisin & Oatmeal cookies.

Fabulous Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies, from “Cooking With Friends”

12 tablespoons (175g) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup (160g) firmly packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup (130g) white sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups (170g) rolled oats
1 1/4 cup (160g) plain flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (200g) raisins

Preheat oven to 375F/190C/Gas Mark 5.

Cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla extract; beat until well combined.

In a separate bowl combine oats, flour, soda, baking powder and salt. Mix into butter mixture until just combined. Stir in raisins.

Drop the dough by heaped tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets, leaving a 2″ gap between each mound. [I used a dessert-spoon and made ovals rather than balls (quenelles, if we're being posh) as I heard that this caused the dough to spread less.]

Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Cool on sheet for at least a minute before transferring to a rack.

High School Musical cards

First of all please excuse the pictures, the backing paper is holographic and is playing havoc with the flash, I could go outside and take a picture in natural light, but as its raining and these two cards have taken about an hour a piece thats not really an option.

The backing paper is a roll of wrapping paper from the Disney store.

Dont you just hate it !

Don't you just hate it when you have a plan that wont work! I had a card order to make last night & wanted to personalise the front & back with names, which I love to do especially on wedding cards. The printer had run out of Magenta ink, Nobody told me, I didn't need Magenta ink but if one cartridge is empty the printer just wont print.
I did manage to work round the problem and make a suitable card, although very to different from the original design. The cardstock is 12" x 12" from the English paper company.it is across between pearlised & metallic with little shimmer flecks, so gorgeous, but the camera doesn't pick that up too well.

Thank you Dawn for the inspiration

The red of this card is the most stunning deep red, almost Burgundy the camera doesn't show it so well.
After that card taking nearly two hours, well one hour thirty was wondering how to overcome the ink situation and the other 30 minutes making up this card, I attempted to start the second card order, A High School musical card for an 8 year old. By this time the brain wasn't functioning too well & I couldn't remember how to make shadow letters with my George cartridge, every button I pushed the letters came out the same. So I am back off to the craft room in a minute to finish the HSM card for this evening.

Happy Thanksgiving

The Parrot

A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity.

John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to "clean up" the bird's vocabulary.

Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot.. The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even ruder. John, in desperation, threw up his hand, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer.

For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute.

Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arms and said, "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behaviour."

John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude. As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behaviour, the bird continued, "May I ask what the turkey did?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

5 Minute management course

Lesson 1:

A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to
lunch when they find an antique oil lamp.
They rub it and a Genie comes out.
The Genie says, 'I'll give each of you just one wish.'
'Me first! Me first!' says the admin clerk 'I want to be in the Bahamas ,
driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.'
Puff! She's gone.
'Me next! Me next!' says the sales rep. 'I want to be in Hawaii , relaxing
on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina
Coladas and the love of my life.'
Puff! He's gone.
'OK, you're up,' the Genie says to the manager.
The manager says, 'I want those two back in the office after lunch'

Moral of the story:
Always let your boss have the first say.

Lesson 2:

An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing.
A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, 'Can I also sit like you and
do nothing?'
The eagle answered: 'Sure, why not.'
So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a
sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story:
To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.


Lesson 3

A turkey was chatting with a bull.
'I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree' sighed the turkey,
'but I haven't got the energy.'
'Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?' replied the bull.
They're packed with nutrients..'
The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him
enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree.
The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second
branch.
Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top
of the tree.
He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story:
Bull Sh1t might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there..


Lesson 4

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze
and fell to the ground into a large field.
While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on
him.
As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize
how warm he was.
The dung was actually thawing him out!
He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.
A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate.
Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow
dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Morals of the story:
(1) Not everyone who sh1ts on you is your enemy.
(2) Not everyone who gets you out of sh1t is your friend.
(3) And when you're in deep sh1t, it's best to keep your mouth shut!


THUS ENDS THE FIVE MINUTE MANAGEMENT COURSE

New Christmas Strategy

I think I have devised a strategy for a stress free Christmas.
I propose that Christmas should be regionalised, by that I mean on the 25th of every month a different county would have Christmas day & boxing day.
Just think of all of the plus points this would have.

• Father Christmas would be employed 12 months of the year.
• The post office would no longer have one peak period a year making it easier to maintain staffing levels.
• There would always be a shopping centre that had Christmas items for sale, allowing you to spread the cost over 12 months. Also if you were a real bah humbug type of person you could always shop somewhere that wasn't celebrating Christmas & completely avoid the festive season altogether.
  
• Seasonal products like mince pies would be available all year, avoiding the gluttony of Christmas & extra weight gain over a few short weeks.
• Less trolley rage in the supermarkets as the big day gets closer.
  
• You could always find a county that wasn't celebrating Christmas & shop there, making for easier car parking, No checkout queues & less demented shoppers all trying to buy the top toy that's been sold out for past 3 months.
• Delivery times from mail order companies would remain the same all year & not become back logged by the sheer volume of parcels at Christmas time.
  
• If you wanted to use your Christmas lights to decorate your pergola in the summer, you could buy replacement bulbs all year.
• I wouldn't have to spend whole weekends trying to make all of my Christmas cards, I could do some every month (I know I could anyway, but how many of us are that disciplined)

So what do you think? I think that this should be given some serious thought.

Friday nights makes & a cosy weekend

These are the make & takes from friday nights Stampin up party at my house.
Michelle had two great projects for us to try & also decorating a mint Pattie ( AKA Elizabeth Shaw mint crisp )
Thank you to everyone that came along, I hope you enjoyed yourselves.

I have already booked my next party in February on Friday 20th at 7pm, but this one will be slightly different as I have decided to do a scrapbooking themed party, so if you fancy coming along then you will need to bring some photo's with you.

Both cards use my favourite seasons of Joy set

Although the picture doesn't show the colours too well we have used Ruby red & always Artichoke, now these two colours are a must have for your Christmas palette.

This card uses a combination of colours that I wouldn't have imagined together Bravo Burgundy & Sage Shadow....they work so well together its a combination I will definitely bee using again.
All of the cardstock & inks are from the co-ordinated Stampin up range.


Well it started snowing here on Friday evening and it has been that way for most of the weekend, it's not currently snowing but the sky is very white & it looks like there is plenty more snow to fall yet. The weather was just the excuse I needed to stay in and make my Sister in laws Christmas card order. I have left my new 6ft stamping table up in the lounge and have been working on 4 batches of cards all weekend, just stopping to Blurf & feed the family.

Bramble popped out to chase the kitten around the garden after she escaped.


Tallulah escaped to see what all of the fuss was about in the snow, Bramble went out & tried to chase her in, but after about 10 minutes of chasing her around the garden she came in of her own accord & then went and sought out a quiet place in the craft room.

Stampin Up Party ~ Tonight

I am all excited I have my Stampin up party tonight & we are making Christmas cards...........Watch this space & I will add our makes.

I have been Christmas shopping today with Paul & this is the first time in 12 years that he has come out Christmas shopping, he is getting his excuses ready so he doesn't have to come again for the next 12 years.

Christmas and the credit crunch

Great ‘Explain to kids they may get less this Xmas' Hunt: How to break the news...
It's a tricky but crucial, explaining to kids you've less money for Christmas. So I want to tap MoneySavers' ideas for the best phrases and stories for different age groups. How can you explain Santa’s budget’s been hit? Or to teens that the designer labels their friends have are out? Plus what free or cheap ways are there to make their Christmas magical?

• Father Christmas is trying to be kind to the environment and reduce the carbon footprint of his sleigh (reindeer have to eat a lot to fly the big heavy presents around the world, and that makes a lot of reindeer poo!), so he's putting smaller presents on his sleigh this year.

• Santa and his elves all kept their money in the bank in Iceland. It was so cold in Iceland that the money (called 'assets' in Icelandic) has all been frozen, so Santa and the elves can't get their money out to go and buy all the presents. However, they managed to find some money in the piggy bank at Santa's house, so you'll still get presents, just smaller ones as they have to make the money go very far so all the children in the world get presents.

• We buy things when we have money whatever time of year, focusng more on birthdays which is personal to them and leave Christmas to mainly token gifts.

• My husband and I told our seven year old DD that Father Christmas would not be bringing as many gifts this year due to the fact the reindeer food had gone up (like our food) and it was more important that the animals were looked after well than people getting lots of gifts.

Averaging 5 a day.

I am quite impressed I am averaging 5 cards a day.
Todays cards are made with the Stampin up set called Big on Christmas, another dusty stamp set.

• I have stamped the images with Stampin up ink.
• Coloured each of the images using stampin up ink and pens with a water brush.
• When they were all dry I covered the entire image with versamark ink, sprinkled on Stampin up "heat & stick powder" heated the powder & covered the entire area with dazzling diamonds, heating once more to set the glitter.
• The card stock used on these is from the English paper company and is a beautiful irridescent 12" x 12" paper.
• The 12" card is cut into 3 at 10cm intervals alowing 3 cards from one sheet.
• Using a scoring board fold in half & then the second line is at 1/3 of the front and folded back on itself.
• I put each card through the cuttlebug each using a different folder.
• The glitter border on the right hand side is made using a thin strip of double sided tape with glitter on.

Stampin up ~ Snow globe

Stampin Up Snow globe

I have been having a play with a dusty stamp set, it was retired in 2004 & I have only used it a couple of times so I have dusted it down and made a couple of Christmas cards, well I had to have something to do as I am confined to the house with a cold.

The weather is cold here.

As you can see from Bramble he is hidden between the two fur beds.
He is climbing in and pulling the top bed over him, I searched the house yesterday morning before going to work, just in case I had locked him out in the garden (as it wouldn't be the first time )

3D Christmas makes

Candy Cane seeds

(Use round, red and white peppermint candies - Place in small envelope or baggie. These are fun to hand out to students after reading a great Candy Cane Book!)

I once knew a gardner who knew how to grow
Bright tasty candies, from under the snow
I asked her to share her secret with me
And this is what she replied quite readily
To garden in winter snow is difficult you see
It takes lots of care and a very special seed
Here are a couple seeds to grow your own treats
And you'll soon reap a harvest of
candy cane treats!

Sequin Christmas puddingMaterials
Polystyrene ball
Brown sequins
White sequins
Ribbon or thread
Holly leaf punched from fun foam or felt
Short pins also called lils

Instructions
Pin the brown sequins on the bottom half of the ball and the white on the top third.

In the gap simulate dripping cream by pinning the sequins in a wavy row.

When finished pin the holly leaf to the top and glue on a ribbon or some thread to hang it or you can put the ribbon on before the sequins for a more secure fixing.

This is so cool another tutorial this time by Jenn Balcer

Paper Trees

by Jenn Balcer

Bust out some holiday paper you've stashed, and create pretty decorations for your mantel or table.

Supplies

• 12" x 12" Patterned Paper (number of sheets varies depending on size of tree)


• Styrofoam Form (here, two different cones for trees, 4" spheres for topiary, and 3 7/8" disc for inside pot


• Paper trimmer


• Quilting pins(Three packages were used for the trees shown here)


• Adhesive


• Terracotta Pot (Optional. 4" diameter pots were used here)


• Syrofoam to fit inside pot, if used


• Wooden Dowel (if a trunk is desired)


• Craft paint and/or pigment ink


• Moss (optional)


• Embellishments

Step-by-Step

1. Step 1

   If you'd like a potted tree, paint the terracotta pot now and set aside to dry.

   

2. Step 2

   If you're creating a topiary, or want a trunk, either paint or apply ink to a dowel. Set aside to dry.

   

3. Step 3

   Insert Styrofoam in pot.
   
   Insert dowel in tree form. A bit of adhesive will keep the form in place.
   
   Center tree over pot, and insert into Styrofoam.

   

4. For the topiary, insert dowel all the way through the Styrofoam sphere for the bottom, making sure to keep dowel centered. Remove sphere.
   
   Insert dowel part of the way into the Styrofoam sphere for the top. Remove sphere.
   
   Add some adhesive (hot glue is perfect for this) inside the hole in Styrofoam sphere and replace dowel.
   
   Insert dowel through sphere for bottom of topiary, and apply more adhesive at the bottom. This will keep the dowel from shifting. Any adhesive will be covered by your paper.

   

5. Step 4

   Adhere moss and cover Styrofoam base. A few pins here and there may be helpful.

   

6. Step 5

   Prepare patterned paper strips by using paper trimmer.
   
   For the tall tree, four 12" x 12" double-sided sheets were cut into 4" x 1" strips.
   
   Instructions for each type of tree are to the left of each close up picture.

   

7. Step 6

   Bend a paper strip in half. Using a quilting pin, attach to tree form starting at the bottom, and going all the way around the tree.

   

8. Step 7

   Repeat Step 6, starting the next row slightly overlapping the previous one, until the entire tree is covered.
   
   A single pattern was used for each row, but try alternating patterns within the row for a fun look.

   

9. Step 8

   One sheet of 12" x 12" double-sided paper cut into strips 3" x 1/2" was used for the smaller tree.
   
   Strips were curled on one end with a bone folder before attaching to the tree form.

   

10. Step 9

    For the topiary, three sheets of 12" x 12" double-sided paper and large and small flower punches were used.
    
    Large flowers were punched and then the petals curled with a bone folder.
    
    A small punched flower and Prima paper flower were layered on top as shown, and then pinned to the sphere. To cover any exposed Styrofoam, pin more tiny flowers in the openings.

    

11. Close up view of topiary.

    

12. Step 10

    Embellish as desired. Here, a loopy bow is pinned to the top of the tree.

    

13. Step 11

    Finished paper trees.

    

Snowman Poop

I hear you've been naughty,
So listen, here's the scoop...
I'm running short on coal this year,
so you get "Snowman Poop"
Love, Santa

[use mini-marshmallows]

Reindeer Poop

We were awakened when we heard Santa call,
"Dash away, dash away, dash away all!"
But soon we discovered out on the front lawn,
Santa and his reindeer were gone.
With our little shovels, we started to scoop,
all of the droppings.....YUCK, reindeer poop!
So, then we generously filled you up a sack,
Have a Merry Christmas and enjoy your snack.

[The above can be made with a cardboard french fry container
and stamped with Christmas stamps all over and then filled with
little plastic bags with malteasers]