Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Hello! Today I am signing off for a bit---my kids will be off from school all next week and we will be celebrating the holidays with family and friends. I always try to take this week off to just enjoy the holidays!
Here is a quick Christmas card I created using Bella Blvd paper and Helmar Quick-Fix Adhesive Runner:

And....here is the fleece owl tooth fairy pillow I made for my youngest (I mentioned it in my previous post.) The front section is a pocket that she can put her tooth in and put it on her pillow. (REALLY hoping this helps the tooth fairy in instances where she cannot find the stinkin tooth under the pillow. Just thinking that probably happens often. Not sure!) Again, I used the My Favorite Things Hearts a Plenty die to cut out the heart:

Most of all----Wishing you a very Merry Christmas from my family to yours!!! >

...and....we cannot forget the new addition to our family, Timmy! (Timmy is actually a Tammy---we just found out at a recent trip to the vet but we haven't decided on a new name yet so poor Tammy is still being called Timmy!)

I hope your holidays are wonderful. Enjoy the time with family and friends. I will see you back here in January---LOTS of fun things planned and might even add some video tutorials to the mix this year!!!

Happy New Year!
Thanks for stopping by!

a short LONG story

Ok...so sort of a long story but the LONG (get it, LONG giraffe neck!) and short of it is that I made an owl tooth fairy pillow for my youngest, who is starting to lose teeth. It is cute and has a little front pocket for her teeth. (Hmmm, definitely will post a picture of that one soon!)

But, anyway, I bought wayyyy too much fleece for it and so my oldest daughter was eyeing it up and told me to make a giraffe for her. (She collects them!)
Good heavens. I am not a seamstress or a stuffed animal designer person but I am not one to turn down any crafty challenge and two hours later I had made this for her: I sketched the giraffe right on the fabric and cut it out (two pieces for front and back.)

I was going to go with different colors but I think she wanted muted colors (She IS 15!) So, instead, I thought I would make the spots on him heart shaped. But....did i really want to hand cut a whole bunch of hearts?!!?! No...I am waayyyy too much of a perfectionist for that.

So, I pulled out my My Favorite Things Hearts-a Plenty Die-namics die and thought "What the heck? I will try it! After all, I have plenty of fleece!" And guess what? It cut the fleece. Shut up!
Yes, it did. Only two of the hearts needed a tiny scissor slice at one point but the others cut perfectly. (And keep in mind, those hearts are on both sides!)

I used my Cuttlebug machine: Plate C, fleece with die facing down, and Place B on top. Success!

Anyhoo....thought that was purty darned neat so had to share :)
The giraffe is cute too---at least according to my daughter who was positively delighted with it.

Mission accomplished.

Angel Tree Topper

Holy Wow...only a few days left until Christmas is here! If you are like me---->you still have lots left to do.
Confession: I actually leave most of the wrapping and final touches for this week on purpose. I love to put on Christmas music and wrap and watch holiday movies. Really gets me in the holiday spirit.

Speaking of holidays.....I LOVE angels. I collect them in all shapes and sizes. I was looking at my tree and was thinking that it just might be time for a new tree topper. So, I used some supplies I already had in the house and made this: A little tree topper angel (or angel decoration) made of a paper machie cone (that I bought awhile ago intending to create a tree with it!) and a Styrofoam ball (painted with Ivory acrylic paint) for the head. The head is attached to the body with a thin dowel and some Helmar Acid Free Glue.

I used some fun thick felt snowflakes I found at the dollar store to design the wings, layering them to achieve more dimension. I added pearls and rhinestones all over her wings and body so she really sparkles.

The halo was created using a stick pin and clear shrink plastic. I punched a circle from the plastic (because it is almost invisible and thick enough to support pearls). I added some beads on after the clear circle and then stuck it into the top of the angel (ouch!)
I added some pearls all around the halo.

The patterned paper on this angel is from Echo Park Paper.

Thanks for stopping by!

Ballerina Tag

Hello! Hope you are having a wonderful Saturday! I wanted to share this before I forgot---I blogged on the Helmar blog yesterday. Here is the tag I created: You can find all the details on this design on the Helmar blog!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cardmaker Blog Team Hop: Last Minute Christmas Cards

Hello! The Cardmaker Blog Team is holding a blog hop today featuring some designs for Last Minute Christmas Cards. These cards are designed to be QUICK and EASY...perfect for those last few holiday cards :)

Here is my design:

This card probably took about 5 minutes to create. And...it is one of my favorites. I used the nativity scene (Lori Whitlock: Silhouette) and printed it onto dark paper. I used Helmar Gemstone glue to cover the star and then added silver glitter (my favorite part!)

The sentiment is a SRM sticker (Fancy Sticker Sentiment- Christmas) that I adhered over patterned paper and then over red patterned paper to make it pop. I used Tea Dye distress ink (Ranger) to ink up the edges of the card. I finished the card with a simple piece of hemp rope.

Head on over to these blogs to see what fast and fabulous creations they whipped up for today:
Tami Mayberry
Trudy Sjolander
Colleen Schaan
Kimberly Crawford

And don't forget to head on over to the Cardmaker blog too!!!

Have a WONDERFUL weekend. I know I will because a certain person in our house is turning 9 on Sunday!! Happy Birthday Ben! xo MOM

OCL Valentine Sneak Peek Blog Hop Day 2

Hello and Happy Friday! Today is the second day for the OCL Valentine's release sneak peeks. Be sure to leave comments on all the blogs in the hop today on the OCL facebook page for a chance to win one of 4 prize bundles (one full set and one single). Winners will be chosen from the comments.
You have until Friday, December 15 at midnight Pacific time/ 3 a.m. Eastern to get your comments posted. The winners will be announced on the OCL blog on Monday.

Today I have a sneak peek of Boo Boo:

What a cutie! I love this guy and love the adorable sentiments he comes with :) (I am sure you will see the other one somewhere on the hop!)

Here are the rest of the amazing OCL ladies. Be sure to check out their posts and comment:
OCL Blog
Kendra Wietstock
Lori Tecler
Tammie Edgerton
Broni Holcombe
Debbie Fisher
Carolyn King
Lori Barnett
Debbie Corbari
Lisa Eisner
Stephanie Serrano
Amber Hillman
Meredith Winston
Joy Stagg
Michelle Pearson
Dawn Barrett
Melissa Cash
Latrice Murphy
Deb Felts

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check out the OCL blog on Sunday or Monday to see if you are a winner :)

OCL Valentine Sneak Peek Blog Hop

Hello! Today the Our Craft Lounge design team is posting some extra special sneak peeks of the new Valentine's Day sets.

I used the fun set- Love is in the Air- to create this card:
I love this sentiment---can think of so many people I could send this to right now! I paired up the little hot air balloon stamp with some of the Echo Park Yours Truly patterned paper. Love the combo.

Blog Candy and Drawing:
Be sure to leave comments on all the blogs in the hop today AND tomorrow and on the OCL facebook page for a chance to win one of 4 prize bundles (one full set and one single). Winners will be chosen from the comments.
You have until Friday, December 15 at midnight Pacific time/ 3 a.m. Eastern to get your comments posted. The winners will be announced on the OCL blog on Monday.

Here is a full list of blogs:
OCL Blog
Kendra Wietstock
Lori Tecler
Tammie Edgerton
Broni Holcombe
Debbie Fisher
Carolyn King
Lori Barnett
Debbie Corbari
Lisa Eisner
Stephanie Serrano
Amber Hillman
Meredith Winston
Joy Stagg
Michelle Pearson
Dawn Barrett
Melissa Cash
Latrice Murphy
Deb Felts

Thanks for stopping by!! See you tomorrow for another sneak peek!

Our Craft Lounge Tags!

Hi there! Today I am blogging on the Our Craft Lounge blog, sharing a few of the holiday tags I created to dress up some of my gifts. You can check it out HERE!

This is one of the tags I created: Head on over to the OCL blog to see the other tags and details on how to make each one.

Thanks for stopping by!

More Ornament Ideas

Hello there! By now you might be getting sick of all the ornaments I keep posting....but I have two more :)
I really enjoy making ornaments and love to make all different types. They make great gifts!

The first one is another felt design. I used Lori Whitlock's bird studio file (Silhouette) and cut out the bird/heart shapes on cardstock. Then, I used the cardstock as a template to cut my felt. I stitched the bird together with red thread, added the SRM sentiment sticker (Fancy sticker sentiment- Love) on a piece of vellum and attached it to the hanger, tied with Twinery ribbon and a bell. I used Helmar Premium Craft Glue to attach the heart wing to the bird.

Next, I have a glass ornament. This was easy. I filled a glass ornament (you can find them at most craft stores) with silver paint and swirled it around. Actually, I swirled it around and shook it all over myself because I forgot to put the top on before doing that. Doh!

After cleaning up that mess....I got back to work. I printed out the beautiful nativity scene (by Lori Whitlock) using my Silhouette onto black vinyl. In order, to make it work for the circle glass ornament, I did have to trim the original a tiny bit (removed the two support bars on either side of the manger.)

I peeled the backing off and stuck it right on the ornament. I finished it off with a tiny crystal over the star and some red tulle.

Hope you are inspired to make some of your own. Apparently, I have to make one with a bunny on it because we recently got a dwarf rabbit :)

Thanks for stopping by!

12 Days of Christmas Tags

Echo Park Paper blog is featuring the 12 Days of Christmas Tags today and tomorrow. Today, tags 1-6 are posted and they are just beautiful. You can check them out HERE. (Don't forget to check tomorrow for the last 6 tags!)

Here is my tag. I was in charge of Day 4: Four Calling Birds:Here is the reason behind my design----> I used the number 4 for the day and the musical notes to show the "Calling" part. I added a die cut bird for the bird. There you have it- 4 calling birds!

Paper- Echo Park (Times & Seasons, Season's Greetings)
Dies- Musical notes, Homespun Birdhouse (My Favorite Things)
Ribbon- baker's twine (The Twinery); lace; rope (Hallmark)
Jingle bell
Ink- Tea Dye Distress ink (Ranger)
sponge
sewing machine
Grommet (Stampin' Up!)
Cropadile (We r Memory Keepers)

Enjoy your weekend!

Cardmaker Blog Post

Hello! Happy Friday! Lots going on around here. I am attempting to get all the Christmas packages I have to send out finished up today :)

Just wanted to pop on here and let you know my very first blog post is up on the Cardmaker blog today--featuring my favorite card making tip!
You can find it HERE!

Have a great day!

Winners and Schtuffs!

Hi there! Where are the days going?? I believe I have a few winners to announce from yesterday's posts, so without further chitchat...


The winners from the Echo Park Paper "Holly Jolly Holidays" Hop are posted on the Echo Park blog HERE.

The two winners of the gift cards from the Last Minute Gifts Blog Party post are:

Cheryl, who said "I left some love for Lori Bartlett" ($25 gift card to Lori Whitlock's store)

...and Suzy, who said "Love love love the gift set; I'm a teacher and would be so appreciative of something homemade like this. I left some love on Tamara's blog as part of the EP blog hop!" ($25 gift card to Kerri Bradford's store)

Congrats ladies! Please send me an email with your contact information so I can pass that on to Lori and Kerri! cammie22@hotmail.com

Finally, if you want to find out how to make this snowman ornament you can find the tutorial on the Helmar blog!

Thanks for all the wonderful comments and notes on the blog hops. I cherished every one!
Have a great day!

Echo Park Paper "Holly Jolly Holidays" Blog Hop

NOTE: This is my second post for today. If you missed the first, check it out below. Both have great blog candy!

Hello! Welcome to the Echo Park Paper "Holly Jolly Holidays" Blog Hop! We've created a special one-day blog hop event in which you can hop from one designer's blog to the next viewing beautiful holiday cards. Be sure to follow the blog hop list below and leave a comment on each person's blog. Finish up at the Echo Park Paper blog with a final comment. THREE winners will selected to win a collection kit of their choosing. Comments can be made through midnight MST today for a chance to win! Winners will be announced on December 8 on the Echo Park Paper blog.

Here is the list of the designers who are participating in the hop:

Leslie Ashe

Lowri McNabb

Vanessa Menhorn

Izzy Anderson

Wendy Sue Anderson

Carolyn King <-- You are here!

Tamara Tripodi

Linda Auclair

Kandis Smith

Patricia Kumfer

Amy Heller

Echo Park Paper

I created two new cards for the hop and also posted my favorite Echo Park Christmas card.

My first two cards use the Winter Park Collection. The first focuses on the little snowman element sticker. I added a few details and some stitching but pretty straightforward:
......and another. For this one, I hand cut the houses out from the patterned paper. Then, I cut out an extra one and popped it up over the original for some dimension. I did this with a few of the trees too:
And here is one of my favorite cards, which uses the Season's Greetings Collection:
Enjoy the hop! Don't forget to leave comments along the way for your chance to win!

Thanks for "hopping" by!

Last Minute Gifts Blog Party

Hello! Welcome to Day #3 of the Lori Whitlock and Kerri Bradford Last Minute Gifts Blog Party. If you missed the first two days, you should head over to Lori's blog and see the awesome projects you missed. Both of their blogs feature projects each day and giveaways!!

My last minute gift idea is for the teacher's on your holiday list. I usually get a book store gift card for my children's teachers so I started with that and created a gift card holder. I wanted to do a mini cube of paper to go with it but I could not find any white paper cubes so I just created the box and stuck an apple in there :) You get the idea, though!

Here is my project:

Here is the gift card holder:


You can pull out the insert to get the gift card. I love the notches Lori's designed in her file --perfect for holding that gift card:





Here is a close up of the note cube box. I love the look of the alpha background on the clear box. To adhere it easily with no mess I used Helmar 450 Quick Dry. Worked perfectly!:

Here are the digital files I used on this project:
Apple, alpha background: Educationish (Kerri Bradford
Library Pocket Tag with Gift Card Holder (Lori Whitlock)
Happy Holidays: Christmas Phrases (Lori Whitlock)

>
Blog Candy: Now for the fun part! Two people who leave a comment on this post will receive a gift. One will receive a $25 gift card to Lori's store and one will receive a $25 gift card to Kerri's store! How fun is that?!

Since it is the season of giving........To enter, go to some one's blog on my sidebar and leave them a little love. Pick any one but be sure to let me know that you did this in your comment to be entered! I will pick the two winners on Thursday 8 a.m. est. and post it on my blog!

And this week only, everything in Lori's store is 25% off! Just use the code DEC25 at checkout!

Joy Tree!

Hello! I am so excited because today my first Fresh Face post is up on the Echo Park blog. Here is my project for today:

All the details on how I made this tree are on the Echo Park blog. Check it out HERE! (If you wanna!)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

FYI

Just wanted you to be aware of this great event going on all week. I rarely post twice in one day (sorry about that!) but I didn't want anyone to miss out on the giveaways for today!

This event is going on all week and there are prizes to be won each day!!!! There are gift certificates being offered each day at all the blogs and a free shape to download each day too! My post isn't until Wednesday but I don't want anyone to miss all the fun and the beautiful projects.

Head on over to Lori's blog for today's post and giveaway!

(Warning!...there MIGHT be another day this week where I have two posts but let me tell you----it will be worth it! Promise.)

Thanks!!

Wow!

I am so excited to share that I am officially part of the first Cardmaker Magazine blog team! Here are my amazingly talented blog teammates:

Colleen Schaan
Kimberly Crawford
Tami Mayberry
Trudy Sjolander

We, along with editor Tanya Fox and managing editor Brooke Smith, will be writing blog posts, sharing tips and techniques and having some fun (and hopefully inspiring) blog hops.

If you are not subscribed to the Cardmaker Blog yet, go on over and sign up! You won't want to miss all the fun we have in store for you over the next few months!

Thank you, Cardmaker, for the wonderful honor of being on this team!

Helmar Holiday Blog Hop

It's that time of year where we all start thinking of the holidays....so what better way to get into the Holiday Spirit than a great Helmar Holiday hop? You will find so much holiday cheer along the way and some amazing projects featuring all the different Helmar adhesives.

If you have been hopping along, you should have hopped here from Nikki Sivils' blog. If not, you can go to the Helmar blog and start at the beginning. There are goodies along the way and we don't want you to miss a thing.

For my project, I created a felt ornament:


I love creating ornaments and each year we try to make a few more for our tree. I used two pieces of die cut felt for this fella. After I lined the two sides up, I lined the outer rim with Helmar Premium Craft Glue. I stuffed the snowman with some more felt and then pinched the sides shut. This kept the snowman together for easy stitching. I attached the ribbon scarf with some Helmar Premium Craft Glue as well.

I used my Helmar Quick Fix Adhesive Runner to attach the little heart to the banner top. The candy cane and the Merry and Bright banner are both from from Christmas Wishes: Cute Cuts (by Bella Blvd.)

Supply list:
Helmar Premium Craft Glue
Helmar Quick Fix Adhesive Runner
Patterned paper- Christmas Wishes: Cute Cuts (Bella Blvd)
Die- Snowman (Papertrey Ink)
Felt- white, chocolate (Papertrey Ink); red (Joanne's)
mini clothespin
baker's twine - chocolate (The Twinery)
ribbon
button (Papertrey Ink)
Hemp (Hobby Lobby)
mini bell
stickles- orange (Ranger)
adhesive rhinestones- Recollections, Michael's


Blog Candy: Make sure you leave a comment at every stop along the hop because the Helmar elves will be giving away prizes to some lucky Helmar fans. Now hop on over to Jen Erickson's blog to see another wonderful Helmar Holiday project. The Holiday Hop will be open for comments until 11:59 PST on December 4th. Hope you enjoy this little holiday spirit from all of us on the Helmar team. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Holidays!