Poinsettia Christmas Card

How about a Christmas card on this spooktacular Halloween day? LOL! Happy Halloween everyone!! My girls are excited to trick or treat tonight. I love the excitement that comes about when the girls are scurrying to put their costumes together....then we make them put on tennis shoes pants under their costumes and a coat over their costumes! All is good though.


Today I have short post because it's out the door for me to sub. I made this Christmas card that has the sentiment front and center as a focal point. I used the JustRite set called Christmas Stamp Ensemble. The sentiment borders and centers fit onto a big circle wooden stamper and are all ready to be stamped. I used the new gold metallic ink from Papertrey and it worked wonders, dries fast too. My background paper is some older patterned paper from my stash. Gold metallic ribbon from Papertrey Ink. I used Spellbinder's circle and scallop dies to cut out my sentiment. Again, the JustRite stamps were designed to coordinate perfectly with the Spellbinder's Nestabilities. A few sequins an a felt snowflake finish up my card. Here's a closeup view of the sentiment stamped in the gold ink. Very shimmery.

Be sure to check out Splitcoast Stampers for information about JustRite stamps.

Here's good product information HERE.

And HERE is a great tutorial by Sharon Johnson for conditioning your JustRite stamps.

Have a frightfully ghoulish day everyone!!

Happy Cupcake Day...Holiday Style

Guess what? The new Spellbinder's Nestabilities are being shipped!! Grab 'em while you can! The card I made for today showcases the Label 1 die on the red layer. I love the shape and I know you all have been waiting for it! You can check out Ellen's blog HERE to find out what she has in her store.

Some other new stamping supplies I've been using are Karen Lockhart's new Christmas images. Today I used the darling Holly Cupcake image that I've colored with my Copic markers to match my patterned paper. I cut out the image and embossed it with a Spellbinder's Circle Nestabilities die template. I just love the bright, cheery colors on this card. I think it will be perfect for a December birthday.
And if you check out this view below you can see that I added some of my favorite Ranger Glossy Accents to the berries to make them shine. I love that look!! Background patterned paper is My Mind's Eye. Solid cardstock and ribbon from Papertrey Ink. Sentiment from Karen Lockhart.

Have you started your holiday card stash yet? Have you been working on Christmas cards? It's almost November so it's a good time to get a head start. Have fun creating this holiday season.

Note: I laughed out loud at some of your comments about snoring husbands. The one about wanting to put a pillow over your husband's face til there is no more signs struggling.......OMG, hilarious!!!! I feel your pain girls. Luckily my husband isn't always like this, just when his allergies act up. Tis that season though for him. I told him I'm not going to leave my bed anymore and he's agreed that he has to be the one to leave the room....we're making progress. Okay, gotta ask.......who has pinched their husband's noses while they're snoring just to watch what happens? ME! (raising hand high)

It's a Girl..JustRite style

Hi everyone! I hope you all are better rested than I am. Dear Husband is in snoring mode for the winter which means I am in non sleeping mode. I....AM....GRUMPY! But I've got a cup of java right beside me and a hot shower waiting so maybe that will wake me up. Do you have a snoring husband?????


Anyway, thank you for the responses to yesterday's post. I have decided to do a Daily December album like Ali's. I have my cover done and all of my supplies in a basket. I'll show you my progress soon!

For today I have a cute little baby card that uses Just Rite stamps. I think these Mary Jane shoes are so adorable. They're from the set called Baby Stamp Ensemble. I chose to color the little shoes with Copic Sketch Markers and then cut them out.
I added foam dimensionals to the back of the shoes and then adhered them to my oval image. I added two little shiny sequins to the sides of the shoes. I cut out the borders portion of my stamped image with a Spellbinder's Scallop Oval die, then embossed it also. Background paper is from Cosmo Cricket and ribbon is from Papertrey Ink.

I hope you have a GREAT day! I'm finishing some stuff up for a great neighborhood Halloween scavenger hunt that my country neighbors are hosting. I'm helping with the planning this year, it's sure to be a ghoulish good time.

Think about it...

Just a few things to think about that I thought were worth sharing:

Check out Heidi Swapp's blog HERE. The first post is a fun one about her son's birthday. I was particularly intrigued by the handmade quilt Heidi's mother made for Heidi's son for his birthday. Totally made from repurposed t-shirts and jeans. So cool!! I have this on my list to do for the girls, saving their old tshirts and jeans.

Scroll down to Heidi's second post and read the going green sign she made. It says *fix it up, wear it out, make do, do without* and she's even given a printable link. I love that saying and am trying to go a little more green around here......throwing out stuff I don't need, making do with what we have, cutting down on expensive gifts, recycling, giving to others.

And check out Ali Edwards' blog HERE. Ali's always got something good up her sleeve. I love the idea of her December Daily album and would love to do one this year. Today she shows her album that is all ready to fill in with journaling and photos. Yesterday was her Day one post, talking about what album she chose and it shows last year's album too. I think you could set up an December Daily Inspiration Station and put this together pretty quickly. And how about using only supplies you already have in your stash? That would be an awesome challenge!

Sooo, what have you done to *go green*.....to give to others.....to prepare for the holidays with your family? I'd love to hear your ideas. Last year I made advent tags with the girls and we had a great time. We'll see what I can accomplish this year.

The world is your snowball...

Edited for questions: Kerry asked: I have a quick question about embossing w/ your nesties. Do you do it at the same time that you cut or run it through a second time?Thanks! When using Spellbinder's Nestabilities, you do the cutting first with the thin, white spacer plate. Then to do the embossing, you place the cut paper with the die still in place back through the machine.......this time using the tan embossing mat on top....cutting side of the die facing up.

Also, I've been asked how I keep a Nestabilities Die Template centered over an already stamped image while cutting. This can be tricky because the dies can shift a little. My little tip is to place a small piece of clear tape over the metal die and overlap it onto the paper which will become the scrap/negative cut paper. This keeps the die right where I want it while running it through the machine. Hope that helps!

As I'm writing this post, I'm snuggled up in warm clothes and Eric has a nice fire roaring in the fireplace. The wind is blowing really hard and it's a bit nippy outside! My beautiful flowers that have lasted so long this year will most likely be wilted tomorrow. Eric made sure to unscrew the hoses from the house. He made a final swipe of the tallest grass around the house with the lawn mower. We put away the summer clothes and brought out the jackets and sweat suits. I've brought out my soup recipes. Eric brought the wood rack up to the back deck. What's all this mean? Winter is on it's way to Kansas! Tonight it's supposed to get down to below freezing...the weather man says 29 degrees. So as much as I don't like the cold, I do love that we get to experience all four seasons here in Kansas. So I might as well not complain, cuz winter is going to come whether I like it or not.

Sooo, I thought I would get started on some wintry cards for the upcoming holiday season. I'll be showing you lots of cards that I'll be adding to my stash. I figure if I make a card a day I'll be all set by the time December rolls around.

Today I'm using some new Karen Lockhart stamps called Itty Bitty Snow Buddy and Itty Bitty Mittens. I wanted my focal image to be bigger than the space that just one Itty Bitty stamp fills up so I decided to stamp a series of the images to make one big focal point. I tied all three images together by using a Papertrey sentiment. Then I cut out my image with Spellbinder's long rectangle dies and a long scallop rectangle die. I used the tan mat to emboss each layer which added a lot of texture and dimension to my card. My images were color with my trusty Copic Sketch markers and I used a white gel pen to create the polka dots on the mittens. The stamped images tie in nicely with the snowmen patterned paper by My Mind's Eye. I added a final embellishment of a glittered snowflake punch.
Wanna learn how to color some awesome snowmen this winter? Check out Marianne's blog post HERE to learn more about coloring a snowman. She has some great tips that you will definitely want to check out.

Okay, I'm off to snuggle up with a good magazine by the fire. Have a great week everyone! And hey, don't forget about Halloween! We can't forget about all the trick or treaters this week. My girls are getting excited. And me too, I can't wait to follow them around town while it's like 30 degrees!!!!!! Yeehaw!

Mr. Hatfield's Pickle Dip

Edit #2: Dried beef is not beef jerky. It's very thinly sliced, salty beef that has maybe 10 slices to a package. The brand I use is called Carl Budding and comes in a plastic sealed bag. In the grocery store, you can find it by the bologna and packaged luncheon meats, usually hanging up. It's also the meat that is used a lot for Chipped Beef on Toast.

Edit: I've added a label to attach to each recipe post I do. The link on the label *CK Becky Font* will take you to the free download of this font at Becky's blog. The links to the label *Recipe* will take you to all my posts that have recipes. I'll try to add this reminder to my recipe posts. Enjoy!

How about another recipe? Every month at the high school where I sub, there is a birthday luncheon. The teachers take turns bringing in lunch goodies each month. I was lucky enough to sub on a day when Mr. Hatfield brought in his wife's yummy Pickle Dip. Mr. Hatfield is the girls' PE teacher and he is young and fun and cute and everyone loves him!! I requested the recipe and the girls said I HAVE to name it *Mr. Hatfield's Pickle Dip*. So there ya go.

If you've ever had those pickle roll ups that have dill pickle slices wrapped in cream cheese and ham....well this is it in a much easier version. You chop everything up and make a dip out of it. That's MY kind of recipe, easy peasy!! I serve this with chips or crackers and it's always a hit at the parties. I thought you might enjoy the recipe because we all need a new recipe when the holidays roll around right?

To make my recipe card, I printed the recipe off with my usual Creating Keepsakes Becky Higgins and AFL Non Metric fonts. I chose Karen Lockhart's Pickle Jar image for my accent. Those pickles just crack me up!!
I colored the pickles with various green shades of Copic Sketch markers and then added a BG color for the glass jar. I used Ranger Glossy Accents to cover the entire jar to give it a realistic effect. Finished recipe card measures 4" x 6".
Here's the recipe that you can copy and paste/print:

Mr. Hatfield’s Pickle Dip

1 cup sour cream
1-8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
2 pkgs dried beef, minced
2-3 dill pickle spears, diced
1 T Worcestershire Sauce
Black pepper, garlic powder & season salt to taste

Mix all ingredients. Serve with firm crackers. Can use light ingredients.


Note: I have SOOO much to share with you all....weekend trip photos from our little day vacay we took yesterday....my first quilt block........a new quilt store I found and NEW fabric (it's as addicting as collecting papers and ribbons!!).......recipes........my holiday cards blitz...and more. Stay tuned, I have so much to share that I'll probably be posting every day that I can. Have a great finish to your weekend, peeps!

Creating Keepsakes Becky Higgins Font

If you like the handwritten looking script font I use for my recipe cards, here's the link to get the font for FREE. This link will take you to Becky Higgins' blog....then click on the *product* link at the top of her blog. The free download for the font will be right there. Have fun!!!

Here's the link....open then click on *products*:

http://www.beckyhiggins.com/blog/

Great Pumpkin Dessert

Edit #2: Yes, you sprinkle on the cake mix dry. Then you pour over the melted butter. It all bakes up wonderfully...the bottom is like the texture of pumpkin pie and the top is kind of a crumbly crust. Just made it yesterday and we had a piece after the football game. Yummo!!

Edit: For the solid pack pumpkin, it comes in a can and is just pumpkin without any seasoning. Just make sure you don't purchase pumpkin pie filling......you just need plain pumpkin. And I made a type.....it should read 1(12 oz) can evaporated milk. Enjoy!

Mmmmm, this time of year brings around the pumpkin desserts and pies. This is a great recipe that I make every year. It's kind of a cross between pie and cake and it's heavenly, especially with Cool Whip or vanilla ice cream. And the butter flavor cake mix makes it melt in your mouth. Hmmm, maybe I'll make this for my dad's upcoming birthday....surely he'd invite us to stay for a little morslet don't ya think?

You know I love to add to my handmade recipe collection and this one will be used over and over again. I used Karen Lockhart's cute little Itty Bitty Piece of Pie stamp. I stamped the image on vanilla cardstock and colored it in with Copic markers. I also used the little Lockhart outline stamp too, perfect for all those Inchie projects. To make the dollop of Cool Whip stand out, I colored it in with a white gel pen. It really pops on that vanilla cardstock. The patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye, the colors instantly make you think *pumpkin*.


For all my recipe cards, the script font is Creating Keepsakes Becky Higgins and the typeset font is called AFL Non Metric. Finished card size is 4" x 6".
Here's a close up of the pumpkin pie accent.

Here's the recipe that you can copy and paste/print:

Great Pumpkin Dessert

1 can (15 oz) solid pack pumpkin
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 pkg yellow cake mix (I used the butter flavor one)
3/4 cup butter, melted (I used margarine)
1-1/2 cups chopped walnuts
Vanilla ice cream or Cool Whip

Combine first five ingredients. Transfer to a greased 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle with cake mix and drizzle with butter. Top with walnuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a knife comes clean in the center. Serve with ice cream or Cool Whip. 12-16 servings.