Rudolph, Santa, and Snowman Candy Bar Wrappers

Hi Everyone!

While I sat here last night gluing red pompom noses on “Rudolph” candy bars I laughed to myself because I know Marie will laugh when she sees my creations and will tell me that I “need a life”. As those thoughts entered my mind I realized that I am in a “very happy” place in terms of crafting. I feel totally at peace when I sit here day after day creating cards and other papercrafts. The satisfaction I feel as I create cards and gifts for family and friends is euphoric. It’s taken about 5 years to build up my stash of tools and other supplies, but I am at the point where I feel that I have everything I want and need. I have learned which adhesives I prefer and which companies offer the quality of stamps, papers, and other supplies that I want. Happy place. I am in a happy place.

Today is my friend Susan DeMuth’s birthday. Susan created my logo. Susan is the owner and artist of Shapes, ETC. I met her at least 12 years ago while I was working at a store that suddenly closed nearly 2 years ago. We became friends instantly and our friendship remains strong even though we live many miles apart and rarely see each other. She’s in New York and I am in Massachusetts. I mention Susan because I give her full credit for turning me onto this wonderful papercrafting addiction. I also give her credit for suggesting that as I purchase a supply to find it a home so that I can always put my hand on whatever I need. Most of my supplies are here with me in “my own little corner”, but even the things that aren’t in this immediate area are organized and have their own little “home” just as Susan suggested.

I spotted a variety of snowman candy bar wrappers while I was surfing the net a few days ago. I thought they all were adorable and looked (and are) easy to create. I searched and discovered other seasonal candy bar wrappers too. My designs are all variations of ideas I found on the Internet.

Here are the candy bars Robbie, Marie and Jeanne will find in their stockings on Christmas morning.

The antlers on this reindeer were created from the purple Marvy Uchida snowflake paper punch.  I pieced parts of the snowflake together .  The googly eyes, pompoms, ribbon and bells are from my stash.  It's so much easier to create when you have a stash of stuff.

The hat on this snowman's head was created with a finger from an inexpensive glove.  Use Scor-pal tape or another adhesive to adhere it to the candy bar. 

Here's an easy way to create the belt and buckle for this Santa candy bar.  Cut a strip of black paper that is 3/4" wide and about 5.5" long and adhere it across the center of the red paper.  Then cut a one inch square of gold paper and glue it to the center of the belt.  Cut a 3/4" square of black paper and glue it to the center of the gold paper.  Looks like a buckle doesn't it!

If you need a very quick candy bar just wrap a piece of patterned paper around it!

That's it for today!  Run out to the store.  It's not too late to make the candy bars!

Have a great night.

Carol

Joy

Hi Everyone!


The inspiration for today's card came while I was visiting the Crate & Barrel website.  I spotted a coffee mug that I knew would be perfect for Marie.

I realized I could easily create a coordinating card.  I searched through my sticker drawer and found several packages of "Design Your Own Sticker" from Momenta.  If you aren't familiar with these stickers it's time for you to learn about them.  Basically you purchase a package of the stickers.  The directions on the back of the package tell you to go to the Momenta website, type in the code for the package, choose the design or colors you want your stickers to be and print them.  The hardest part may be choosing from the hundreds of colors and designs. 

Here's the card I made for Marie.

Pretty cool, huh!  I think she'll love the card and the mug. 

Have a great day!

Carol

Gingerbread House in a Frame

Hi Everyone!

About 6 weeks ago I read that May Arts Ribbon was having a "Deck the Halls with Burlap" Challenge.  The challenge was to use 4 of their burlap ribbons to create your choice of a holiday craft.  Every participant was sent 2 yards of the 4 ribbons. 

The moment I saw the photograph of the wide ribbon with the red and white striped edges I thought of using it on a gingerbread house.  When my ribbon arrived I pulled out my Christmas brads and buttons and started to plan my project.

I traced the edges of a gingerbread house pan onto a sheet of Memory Box paper and cut it out.   Then I used 1/2" wide Scorpal tape to help pleat the wide ribbon that I used for the shingles on the roof. 

I threaded the thin green burlap ribbon through some peppermint buttons that MaryBeth gave me a few years ago and used glue dots to adhere them to the "shingles".  You can see that I used a piece of the wide ribbon for the chimney, doors, and part of the windows. 

A 3rd kraft colored burlap ribbon became the shutters for my house.  I think that may be my favorite ribbon.  I stitched a tree with the 4th ribbon. 

The wreaths and candy canes are brads.  The taffy candies are Martha Stewart stickers.  The decorations on the tree are brads, Favorite Findings buttons, and stickers. 

I used my pink Marvy Uchida circle punch to create the moon and then I used an A Muse Artstamp to stamp Santa and his sleigh flying across the moon. 

The layering paper is from SEI's Kris Kringle collection. 

You can also see this project on the May Arts blog where you can see how other participants used their ribbon.  Please leave a comment here or on the May Arts blog.

Have a great day! 
Carol

Tea Cards

Hi Everyone!

I am feeling pretty excited right now.  I just mailed my last card order and it's only December 14.  This means I will have time to make some cards that I can send out from my family.  I learned something about myself yesterday.  I was working on a card order and even though I have created hundreds of cards I felt nervous as I worked.  I wasn't nervous when Carla asked me to bring cards I had already made to her Art Gallery and I'm not nervous when I create samples for my classes, but I was a wreck yesterday.  I am not usually a perfectionist, but when it comes to my paper crafts I want everything to look good.

I took pictures of some of my favorite creations and I have a few to share with you today. 

I sponge painted some white tag with acrylic paints and created my own patterned paper.  The tree was stamped with a Hero Arts "Tree Trunk" wooden stamp.  I used Distress Ink to paint the tree.  The birds and music notes are brads from Eyelet Outlet.

I found the small doilies that I use on my cards in the baking section at Michaels.  The tea cups were stamped with a clear stamp from the Hero Arts "What's Perking?" clear stamp set.  I fixed the tea bag string after I saw this photograph.

I love my wooden tea bag stamp from the Lockhart Stamp Company.  Love the SEI Homestead papers that I used on this card too. 

Going to decorate our Christmas tree now.  Will be back tomorrow!

Have a great day!  Have a great night too!

Carol

Denami Design Gift Wrapping Blog Hop

Hi Everyone!


Today is the day of the Denami Design Gift Wrapping Blog Hop.  Here are the details for the hop.

When: The blog hop starts on December 11 at 6 AM, PST. However, you have until December 12, 2011, 11:59 pm PST, to leave comments on all the blogs (to be eligible for a prize).Why: To be inspired by fun DeNami Design creations and also the chance to win mini shopping sprees on the DeNami Design website!

Prizes: We are giving away THREE $20 gift certificates to our website! We'll be giving away one gift certificate to a random participant (DT members not eligible) and then we'll also be giving away TWO gift certificates to TWO people who comment along the hop.

If you started at the beginning of the hop you have arrived here from the creative and fun blog of
Lani Misner at http://mutantscrapbooker.blogspot.com/
If you get lost along the way you can always start at the beginning of the blog at http://denami.blogspot.com/
You are now at Carol Hartery's blog.  I had originally planned to create a more labor intensive project for this challenge, but then I thought about how busy we all are at this time of year and decided you (and I) would be happier with an idea that’s quick and easy to create and says, "Merry Christmas" to the recipient.


I own 3 of the 4 sizes of the Dot Circle Frames and find myself using them over and over again for my cards and other paper crafts. For today’s project I selected the Medium Dot Circle and Small Solid Circle wooden stamps. I printed Denami Design's downloadable template for the small gift bag on a sheet of white tag. Then I used my Scarlet and Fresh Green ColorBox pigment stamp pads with the stamps and stamped all over the bag.  I sprinkled Detail Clear Embossing Powder over the stamped images and embossed them with my heat gun.

This gift bag is the perfect size for a gift card or a small gift.  It can also be used as a favor bag at the dinner table.  For this blog hop I used Christmas colors on the bag, but you could use school colors if you were creating a bag for a graduation gift or other holiday colors on other holidays.  You can purchase the template for this gift bag on the Denami Design web site at this link http://denamidesign.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=999

Before you hop on over to Andrea Matthews amazing blog at http://workinprogress-am.blogspot.com/ please stop and leave a comment on this blog.  You may also want to become a follower of my blog so that you can see some of the Christmas cards and crafts I will be sharing with you up until Christmas Day.

Hope you have a great day!

Carol

More Mini Cards

Hi Everyone!
Happy Saturday!  Two weeks from today is Christmas Eve!  Today I sorted through the gifts and stocking stuffers I have purchased so I could see what I have and what I still need to get.  Happily, shopping wise I am in pretty good shape.  But we still haven't baked any cookies and that's not good. 

Today I have more gift cards to share with you. 

The first card was created with a Denami Design's double circle stamp and a Denami Design's holly stamp.  The berries are small rhinestones and the bow was created with a Martha Stewart bow paper punch.
The hot chocolate was created with a Martha Stewart paper punch.  I added glitter to the whipped cream to make it sparkle.
The polar bears were created with a Memory Box stamp.

The wreath was created with a Martha Stewart paper punch.  The bell on the wreath is a Favorite Findings button. 

The gingerbread men were stamped with a Hero Arts stamp. 

Santa falling down the chimney was created with a Rosie's Roadshow wooden stamp.

Most of the images on these cards are buttons.  I especially love the dancing reindeer.

That's it for today.  Have a great night!
Carol

Christmas Mini Cards

Hi Everyone! 

I want to start off today's blog with a story.  Recently my computer was attacked remotely.  I fell for a Scareware scam and gave them my credit card information.  The logo on the Scareware closely resembled  Windows logo which is why I thought it was genuine.  Happily my bank is replacing the money in my account.  Although the viruses I was told were on my computer weren't really there somehow many of my files were corrupted, my computer couldn't communicate wth my printer, and I couldn't save any files as PDFs.  To make a long story short my sister Pam and her husband Norris bought me a new computer and a wonderful friend, Mary Anne, set up my new computer and transferred all of the files from my old computer.  Thank you again Pam, Norris and Mary Anne.

I have been incredibly busy fulfilling card orders.  I have this terrible feeling that once again this year "the cobbler's children may go barefoot" because I don't know how I will find the time to create cards for us to send. 

Mini cards which you may also know as "gift cards" have been very popular this year.  I play around with my stamps, paper punches, buttons, brads and patterned papers and create a variety of adorable cards. 
I created 18 mini cards today (12 different ones), but still need to photograph them.  However, I have photographs of the ones I created yesterday to share with you.

The card that looks like a Christmas present was created with a stamp from PaperTrey Ink's Holiday Button Bits clear stamp set.  The jingle bells with bows were created from Martha Stewart paper punches.  I free cut the snowman on the third card.

The card with the button ornaments was created with a stamp from PaperTrey Ink's Holiday Button Bits clear stamp set and buttons from my stash.  The tree and the snowman on the middle card are Favorite Findings Buttons.  The gingerbread man on the third card was stamped with a clear stamp from PaperTrey Ink's Holiday Button Bits clear stamp set.

I found the reindeer button at Michaels in their Holiday buttons set.  The tree was created with a triangle paper punch. 

The polar bear was stamped with a wooden Memory Box stamp.  The text is from Hero Arts and the pine tree is a Favorite Findings button.

I'll be busy creating cards all weekend as I promised to fulfill some orders on Monday.  I am in the Denami Design blog hop on Sunday and have a May Arts Ribbon Challenge to submit by Monday.  Hopefully I will have time to photograph the mini cards that are next to me so that I can share them with you.

Have a great night!  Take care when you are opening your e-mails.  The bank told me there are hundreds of new scams each week. 

Carol