Blankets from 2006

These are the blankets I made back in 2006. I used old wool sweaters that I washed hot and dried hot to 'felt' them. Then I cut squares, sewed them together and sewed them onto soft, fuzzy blankets. I rolled the edge of the blankets over to make the 'bindings.' On one I sewed shell buttons. On the other I stitched all the way around each square to give stability and structure. It was a fun project, and I got some sweaters by the pound (cause they had holes in them or were already wrongly washed) for not much money. I also rescued a few sweaters of my dh's and mine that I had ruined. Always nice to have a way to redeem oneself from laundry disasters!

Brown Christmas!

Here I go with the Monochromatic thing again!!! I love brown - warm, versatile, friendly. To me, Brown lends itself to clean lines and simple design, which I prefer over very busy. Brown says 'chocolate' to me - and chocolate says Christmas!!

I thought I didn't like Soft Suede when it first came out - I'm a Chocolate Chip kinda' girl. But I do, I like it!! Because of an accidental over-order of Soft Suede ribbon, EVERYONE at my workshops this year made THIS card! Luckily, everyone seemed to like it. ;o)

Kraft is a fABulous brown too. It goes with everything and brings old worldiness (yeah, that's not a word!!) with it.

So, that's my brown phase for this Christmas. Round two of I love brown is scheduled for sometime near Valentine's day!

Non-Christmas

Here's a thank you card I made. I love this little bunny. If he ever retires I think I'll cry.


















And here's a birthday card. I absolutely LOVE how simple and sparkly this turned out. I'm sad you can't see the sparkles in the pictures, but believe me, it's very sweet.

Do you know what I love? Using retired stamps!!! It's so liberating. It feels so much like ME time and takes away the 'work' dimension completely. I love the retired stamps I've kept, and I feel that I'll never part with them. They're part of my 'Stampin' Family' and I could never give them away. I just treasure them! This is part of what I love about Rubbah! It seems like it could just last forever. Pulling out an oldie but goodie is so SATISFYING!

I challenge you to go find a lonely stamp and ink 'er up today!!!

Gift bags

I've made dozens of gift bags this year, with all sorts of little treats in them. Watkins body care mini's, stamps, candy, facial treatments, Burt's Bees, even little tiny bottles of ice wine and liqueur. There are endless combinations, and I don't intend to show them all, but each one is personal and has been so fun to put together!



Check out the little stamped tea lights in these packages.














In addition to the chipboard clipboards and post-it pads, I added a couple of sweet little stamped candles. They are very fragrant and add a nice touch. They take about 30 seconds each to make - so easy! I just stamped on tissue paper, cut it out to a rough circle, punched a hole in the middle for the wick to go through and heated them up with a heat tool. No problemo.

What I've discovered about stamped tea lights is that the tissue does not burn when you burn the candle. However, if you let this version burn all the way down, the little plastic dish melts. Gaack! I wish I'd realized that before I put these all together. sigh.

Anyhoo, what fun I've been having!!

I have pictures to post to demo the stamping on candles and marble coasters, as well as the post-it pad holder. Tomorrow? Here's hoping!

More Medallion Madness

Medallion Madness...

I borrowed the Medallion background stamp from a friend this week - and I've been having FUN with it!!

Here are some really simply cards I was working on using just Real Red and Whisper White.

I love this scalloped square die for the Big Shot. I'm just 'getting to know' it and I see so many possibilities! It's clear - so you can see what you're going to cut. I'll bet that's going to be a huge help with the new Designer Paper in the Sale-A-Bration goodies!

More red and white to come. The candle pictures will have to wait.

Oh, and I can't WAIT to show you some of the awesome things that 'my stampers' made at our Christmas gifts workshop last night. What a hoot!

Enabler Alert!Yes, Virginia, there obviously IS a Santa Claus!
Who else would put a Big Shot on sale right before Christmas AND put a bunch of dies and supplies on sale too!! If any of you are hoping to drop a big hint to a Significant Other about this, be sure they know they should order by Dec. 15th to get it to you in time for Christmas.

Here's the rundown:

Big Shot Gift Pack	120151
Price: $369.85
Big Shot Gift Pack contains: • Sizzix Big Shot • Flower Burst Embosslits die • Billboard Sizzlits Decorative Strip die • Movers & Shapers Curly Label die • Fancy Favor Bigz XL die • Extended cutting pads • Extended premium crease pad • Decorative Strip cutting pads • Decorative Strip spacer platform

Green Christmas II

Here are a couple of fun Candle projects I made this year. I've read every stamping on candles post in the bloggosphere - trying to pick up some tips. First, I must tell you that I'm in AWE of the tutorial skills of so many bloggers out there! Second I want to thank everyone who puts their great ideas and valuable experience out there. What a boon to the semi-new stamper! I'm working on my top ten favourite blogs to list for you soon, so you can sample some of the talent that inspires me!

I've got some pictures to share about how I made these - I'll get them up soon!

Green Christmas

I thought it would be fun to post some of the GREEN things I've been doing. The first is a card made using the Snow Swirled stamp set and some Old Olive & Certainly Celery ink and cardstock.
Next is a tea bag holder that I think is just darling. I don't remember where I got the pattern from, it was so long ago! There are many tutorials floating around in cyberspace for them, made by much more experienced bloggers than I!
I love them for the times you want to give a little something more than a card, but not quite a present. You could put a little rhyme about having a cup of Christmas tea if you like. In this one I added a very nice bag of green tea with ginger - I love the clear packaging and silk tea bag. Trés elegant! Stamps: Patterned Pines, Sincere Salutations and Branch Out (love the tiny snowflakes in that one). Also used Whisper White and Old Olive cardstock, Petals a Plenty embossing folder, Old Olive Classic ink and Real Red Stampin' Write marker.