Belle Papier {pretty paper}

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends this morning! I’m wishing you all a fabulous day. We have so much to be thankful for. In Canada we celebrated early in October. I always love Thanksgiving…taking the time to get together with family and friends and most of all, to remember my many blessings…health, love, family, friends, home, forgiveness. Being thankful is something I try to make part of every day. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Psalm 136:1

I decided to make a Thanksgiving card today to wish those who are celebrating a happy Thanksgiving. Also, today is Thursday so it is time for another Ways to Use It Challenge. I’ve decided to do a rerun challenge today…one of my favorite things. Probably shouldn’t be too hard to guess this one…STITCHING! Pull out those sewing machines, do a little hand-stitching, or some faux stitching…if your design has stitching on it, it will be perfect for today’s challenge. Now I know that many of you are busy today. I know the work involved with getting a large dinner together so….if you can’t play along today…feel free to design something anytime this week. Hey…if you’re really into it, make a card or project every day! I’d love to see your ideas! Check out the challenge at WT141 If you’d like a stitching tutorial…check out my All Stitched Up.

Thanksgiving Cornucopia

This design uses some of my new Cornish Heritage Farms stamps that I got in the mail on Tuesday. I was so excited to get stamping with them! The Cornucopia is from Kim Hughes darling set, Let’s Get Stuffed. Is that appropriate for today or what?! LOL The image was colored in with my Copic Markers and then overstamped with the Weave backgrounder stamp, also by CHF. I am totally loving these backgrounders!They are so fabulous for adding texture.

My main card base is Chocolate Chip cardstock layered with this stunning Webster’s Pages patterned paper. Love the vintage look of it. I added a row of machine stitching around the panel after adhering. My sentiment panel is Kraft cardstock and is stamped with another CHF backgrounder, Weathered Wood in Real Rust ink. I decided to try stitching the May Arts ribbon down in stripes across this layer with a zig zag stitch. I think I see more ribbon stitching in my future.

For my final touches, I added a little corner definition with a little free-style stitching on the bottom left corner of my image panel before adhering to my design. The little corner treatment uses a corner punch embellished with a Fancy Pants Harvest Pin tied with a scrap of that ribbon.

I hope you find some time to take me up on the challenge! Wishing you a safe and happy and thankful day!

A little more holiday cheer….a Christmas card design to share with you today. Sorry I totally missed yesterday. There are only so many hours in the day and I tell you…I’ve been burning the candle at both ends trying to keep up. There was just so much housework to catch up on, sometimes you just have to do that and forget about stamping. I’m sure many of you are busy cooking and cleaning as well with American Thanksgiving coming up tomorrow. I wish you all a fabulous day with lots of food, friends and family. It will be same old, same old for us as we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving weeks ago in October. Truth be told…although I wouldn’t turn down a turkey dinner, I like celebrating in October…gives me a little more time to get ready for Christmas. I’ve been busy shopping and sorting and making lists. I like to get my shopping done before now to avoid the crowds but I’m just going to have to brave them this year I’m afraid. I AM doing really well with the Christmas cards this year as you can see. I have lots stocked up…I just have to decided which ones go where.

Holiday Cheer

This is a little design I created with the Lizzie Anne Designs Holiday Cheer stamp set. So darling…love the fun look. I decided to have a little fun with some acetate and stamped the stylized snowflake onto it with white Stazon ink. I love this opaque ink and if you haven’t tried it…the white is one of the most flexible ones to get. To add to the frosty look, I also swiped the edges of the layer with the ink pad and allowed to try.

My background design is very simple and uses a 5.25″ square card base in Real Red cardstock. The patterned paper layer is a gorgeous Olive color. It is more of that awesome Webster’s Pages designer paper by Terri Conrad. After adhering my layers, I stitched around the design with my sewing machine to frame it and attach my transparency layer.

To create a fun hanging ornament, I stamped my Happy Holidays circle onto whisper whit cardstock and punched it out with a Marvy Maga circle punch. After sponging the edges, I adhered it to a scalloped circle punched with my Giga Circle punch, also by Marvy. The hip tree is stamped with Always Artichoke and cut out, matted and adhere to the center of the ornament. A little Making Memories gemstone brad adds some glitz and a little scrap of May Arts ribbon adhered with a glue dot add the tie for the ornament.

Quick Tip: When using Marvy Punches, they make it easy to layer …the Giga punch will perfectly mat a Mega size punch and so on.

Webster’s Pages, May Arts ribbon and stamps available from Jacksonbelle Embellishments.

Wishing you a fabulous day! Enjoy Thanksgiving and find a little holiday cheer in getting ready for Christmas.

I thought I’d take a little break from Christmas designs and share a floral design I created not too long ago. I love the warmth of the coral flowers paired up with the vanilla and black color scheme. Just what my blog needed…a shot of color. It’s simple to create gorgeous flowers with this Three Step Daisy set by Kitchen Sink Stamps. Love all the various color combos and looks you can come up with. This card is really flexible…just by changing up the sentiment, you can use it for many occasions.

Grow with Love

If this design looks familiar, you may have seen it before. I originally created it for an article/review I wrote for Craft Critique on Kitchen Sink Stamps….I gave them a huge thumbs up. I was really impressed as they have some of the easiest to use polymer stamps I’ve tried.

It’s been a very busy day here. Lots of work to do that I can’t share right now. You’ll have to forgive me…I’m so exhausted tonight…I can’t even remember the patterned paper line! If someone can help a tired girl out…:) Take care my friends!

Supply List:

Cardstock: Black, Very Vanilla - Stampin Up

Patterned Paper:

Stamps: Three Step Daisy - Kitchen Sink Stamps

Ink: Groovy Guava, Rose Red, Cameo Coral, Certainly Celery, Old Olive - STampin Up

Other: Crop-a-dile - We R Memory Keepers, heart snap, velvet brad - Making Memories, ribbon (Velvet and green) - May Arts, Flower - Prima

Christmas is coming and I’m starting to get ready for it. Over the past week, I’ve started Christmas shopping…with large families…a huge job! I’ve also taken some time to pull out my favorite holiday baking recipes and think ahead to what I need. I love holiday baking. It just doesn’t seem to be Christmas without it. As I’ve been super busy over the past week, today I thought I’d share some of my favorite cookie and bar recipes. You know how is it always great to try out something that comes recommended by a friend? Also, if you want a bunch of great recipes and ideas…make sure you scroll through the comments on this post….Spreading a little Christmas Cheer. So many of you were so kind to share some awesome ideas, traditions and recipes and they are really fun to look through!

Shortbread

3 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 dash salt

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

Mix ingredients together in a food processor…should form a thick stiff dough. Pat into 2 8″ round pans. Mark each into 12 wedges and prink with fork. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with sugar and cut into wedges. Remove when cool. Store in tightly sealed container.

Peanut Butter Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

1 cup peanut butter

1/2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together. Cream butter and peanut butter together. Gradually beat in sugars. Add egg and beat until fluffy. Stir in drey ingredients. Toll dough, a teaspoonful at a time, into balls; place 3 inches apart on greased cookie sheets.. Flatten with fork and top with cut up candied cherry if desired. Bake at 375°F for 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Eggnog Cookies - Mrs. Fields recipe

2 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/4 cups sugar

3/4 cup margerine

1/2 cup egg nog

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large egg yolks

1 tablespoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 300°F. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mis well. In large bowl, cream sugar and butter with an electric mixer to form a grainy paste. Add eggnog, vanilla and egg yolks and beat at medium speed until smooth. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet one inch apart. Sprinkle with nutmeg if desired. Bake for 23-25 minutes. Immediately transfer to cool.

Quick Tip: Use the leftover egg whites from the above recipe to make the meringues below…

Holiday Meringues - so pretty and festive with colored sugar on top

3 large egg whites

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat over to 200°F. Line 2 cookies sheets with foil or waxed paper, wetting corners of cookie sheets to hold linings in place. Beat egg whites with mixer on medium speed until frothy. Add cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form when beaters are lifted. On high speed, gradually add sugar one tablespoon at a time. Beat until stiff, very white and glossy. Beat in vanilla. Spoon into pastry bag fitted with large star shape tip. Pipe small mounds one inch apart on cookie sheets. Sprinkle with decors if desired. Bake 3-4 hours until meringues are dry and crisp all the way through. Cool on sheet on a wire rack. Peel off liner. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 months.

Gingersnaps -  these melt in your mouth…one of my faves

2 cups sugar

3/4 cups margerine

3/4 cup lard

1/2 cup molasses

2 large eggs

4 cups flour

2 teaspoons ginger

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons baking soda

Cream and beat first four ingredients. Stir in remaining ingredients. Roll into balls. Coat with sugar and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on rack.

Happy baking! Wishing you a fabulous holiday season with lots of treats to enjoy!

Quick designs are perfect for busy weekends, especially at Christmas time. There is so much going on,baking, shopping, wrapping, decorating, so many fun things to do and of course, you want time for your family. That is why it is great to have quick holiday projects. The following set is one I came up with a little while ago, a fun holiday set of an invitation, place card, and napkin wrap that is easy to put together. Especially when you are making more than one…it is best to use that KISS approach.

Beaded Christmas Invitation

This quick invitation uses a clean design with the beautiful Basic Grey Dasher paper. For the bottom section of the design, to make it special and a little frosty looking, I covered the patterned paper with some double-sided adhesive and then covered the entire surface with micro beads. A warm red velvet ribbon from Flair Designs adds an elegant look. The You’re Invited sentiment is a white rub-on that could easily be stamped instead if desired. It is a little hard to see, but the blue brad is a Making Memories Pebble Brad in a holiday snowflake design.

Quick Tip: I find the best micro beads to use for this project are the very tiny ones by Provocraft. I’ve tried other larger size glass beads from Michael’s but just didn’t have the same success with them.

For table settings, a quick coordinating look is great for the party. The little place marker is created with coordinating striped Basic Grey Dasher paper as well…covered int he same manner as above with double-sided adhesive and microbeads. Names can be easily stamped to personalize the design with Karen Foster Snap Stamps and a little ink.

For the napkin ring, simply cut a strip of patterned paper the circumference you need and adhere the ends together well. Cover with more double-sided adhesive and roll in microbeads. You can further decorate them if you wish with ribbon or other embellishments.

I also designed a Holiday Candle Centerpiece to go with this design. You can check it out at this post or in Paper Crafts Magazine’s Holiday Cards and More special publication.

Wishing you a great weekend and wonderful holiday season. It’s coming quickly so have a little fun and get started on those holiday creations!

Lots of things going on….I have a few links for you to check out today! AND snow has arrived overnight! Oh it is sooo pretty! The boys have been having a blast! My littlest guy is two and doesn’t remember last winter. You should have seen his eyes this morning when we brought him out of bed and to the window. Big wide eyes and a big round O for his mouth. So darling! Don’t you just love little ones? They make you see the wonder of it all with fresh eyes! I have a few pics to share with you at the bottom of the post. But first…

• Cornish Heritage Farms has a new product spotlight today. CHF is spotlighting all four Ranger Liquid Accents products. You’ll want to check out Lisa’s spotlight and tutorial on how to use these products. You’ll also want to note that these products are on promotion for the next two weeks Yesterday, I posted a design using the Ranger Crackle Accents. It was fabulous to work with. Now I can’t wait to try out the other products as well!

• Jacksonbelle is having a huge Thanksgiving Sale at her store featuring Basic Grey, Prima, Around the Block, Queen and Co. and Webster’s Page … all 30% off until the end of the weekend. Wowsers girls…I am NOT missing this one! You can check it out at Jacksonbelle’s Embellishments.

• Lizzie Anne Designs has announced their new stamp release date. You can find it and other cool info in their new SCS Forum . Also…sorry this is rather late…but I wanted to congratulate the winners of the October Card Contest. All entries were donated to Card for Cancer. Check out the fabulous entries at Card Contest Winners. Congratulations ladies! All the designs were beautiful!

• Webster’s Pages…If you’ve never checked out these gorgeous papers, you really must. They are stunning! And Terri Conrad is having a fabulous Twelve Days of Christmas celebration that you don’t want to miss! Check out the details below and be sure to visit Terri’s Blog & Terri Conrad Designs to play along. Honestly…my mouth was just hanging open at some of the gorgeous creations.

And finally…those snow pics! Please bear in mind it was VERY difficult to get two very excited boys to stay still long enough for a photo! LOL That and the fact that fogged up bi-focals on a 5 yo are tricky as well. As you can see…they are having a blast! They wanted to stay out all morning. So much for stamping today…but these moments are precious and work can wait, right?

Baby, It’s Cold Outside!

Building a First Snowman

Have a great weekend!

Black and White designs…I just love them! Always classic and elegant…for this design I paired up a simple color scheme and design with lots of little texture touches. Velvet rub-on flowers, and textured black cardstock, along with a little stitching and a couple distressed edges.

This design is published in the latest Paper Crafts Magazine issue… December 2007/Jan 08. I know…how did time fly that quickly?! It was just released this past Tuesday I can’t wait to see the issue. I know of a few designers whose work is published in it and it is always so much fun to see them in print…all photographed in a fabulous arrangement!  If you subscribe to Paper Crafts, you probably already have your issue…mail to Canada is SO slow right now! I’ve heard this design is on page 94. If you’d like the issue or would like to subscribe, just click on this Paper Craft Magazine link.

Velvet Flowers with Love

Oh I love brads…so quick and easy to use! Love the mini ones…they are fabulous in all kinds of uses, especially in numbers. But I must say…they cool new brads that are so hot on the market right now…well they have me at hello. Ever seen the movie, Jerry McGuire? You’ll know the quote I’m talking about if you have. Anyway…I see them and I’m hooked. Any kind of fun and unique brad…I’ll buy it. So…..when “Mrs. Boz” suggested a unique brads challenge…I jumped right on it! I know we’ve done brad challenges before on the Way’s to Use it Challenge but this time…it is unique brads. Use corduroy brads, ornate brads, jumbo brads, build-a-brads, embroidered brads…I tell you I have them all…well, almost and it was quite a decision on which ones to use. If you want to do more than one design, go ahead. Make a design with a different unique brad every day for the next week. Should be fun! Join in and play along…all are welcome at WT140.

Vintage Crackled Bridge

This is my first time trying out this new Thomas Kinkade Cobblestone Bridge stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms. So gorgeous! I simply stamped it with my Burnt Umber ink pad by Stewart Superior and sponged the edges with the same ink. I’ve had this ink pad for a while but I have to tell you…it is a beautiful brown and I just love using these ink pads. After inking it, I pulled out my Ranger Crackle Accents and decided to try out a very crackled, vintage look on this design. I’ve had this product for months and have only tried it once so I really wanted to give it another whirl. I love how it turned out! A very fine realistic crackle, it is fabulous. Now I will admit…it DOES take longer to dry than a cracked glass technique but the results are so fine…I love it. Another great use for this product it on embellishments and solid surfaces such as a journal cover that can’t be twisted and cracked by hand. This product does all the work for you. Cool, huh?

For the rest of my design, I decided to pull out my Cosmo Cricket Hey Sugar patterned paper line again. I love Cosmo Cricket! For this design, I used two of their beautiful papers that are very subtle and vintage. After sponging their edges, I adhered them to my 5.25″ square Chocolate Chip cardstock base. You know how I love to sew, so I just had to add a little freestyle stitching frame around my design in brown thread.

For the embellishments… a scrap of May Arts ribbon was tied through eyelets set with my Crop-a-dile at the top left corner. Now this challenge is all about unique brads so I used one of my ultra favorite embellishment brads from K & Company. These brads are from the Hannah line and are simple stunning. So unique. I just had to set it into the center of a special flower as well. The flower is stitched suede by We R Memory Keepers…love its warm look! Oops just about forgot the quick tip I wanted to add today!

Quick Tip: These suede flowers by We R Memory Keepers can be difficult to push brads through. I use my Crop-a-dile to first punch a small hole in the center. After than…it’s easy!

Have a great day and hope you find some time to play along with the challenge!

I love decorating for the holidays and little frames are so quick and easy to do This is one of my favorite frames from Michael’s…a little 5×5 frame from Provocraft, it is so inexpensive ($1US, $1.50 CDN…go figure as now the CDN $ is worth more than the US LOL) Makes it great for some cross-border shopping for me! This frame uses Chatterbox papers and Basic Grey rub-on transfers. I love stamps but I love using rub-ons too! Did you hear the news? Stampin Up is actually going to be selling rub-ons too! Can’t quite wrap my mind around that one yet but I’ll be trying them out for sure.

Basic Grey Wholly Cow rub-ons are among my absolute faves to work with. So easy to apply and I LOVE their hip look. This week on Craft Critique we are focusing on rub-on transfers and I am so excited to be able to review Basic Grey rub-on transfers. Even if you don’t use rub-ons…check it out at Wholy Cow - A Basic Grey Rub-on Transfer Review. Dare you to try them!

If you’d like to try out other rub-on transfers as well… Daisy D’s and Cosmo Cricket also get top marks from me!

Frosty Snowflake Frame

This is such a quick, easy design. As you can tell, I’m loving this Chatterbox Winter paper. Gorgeous fun colors that don’t just limit to the Christmas season but all winter long. This little frame would make a super quick gift to whip up. Simply cover the frame with the patterned paper, trim close and sand the edges. I love using Basic Grey’s Precision File kit for that! To apply the Basic Grey rub-ons, simply cut them from their packaging, remove backing, place where desired and rub onto surface. Quick, clean, fun!

For my embellishments, a strip of dotted aqua ribbon from Michael’s is tied around the side of the frame. The acetate snowflake inside is a beautiful Ghost Shape from Heidi Swapp. I covered it with Crystal Effects and then sprinkled it with UTEE and left to dry. Don’t heat it! I love those chunky square crystals for an icy look. The snowflake is adhered to the center of the frame with a glue dot and for a little bling, a little Making Memories gem sticker.

Have a great day!

A little change of pace from all the distressed Christmas cards, a change from patterned paper to all stamping…just a little different look. Today’s color challenge was inspired by a card I designed a couple months ago using Kraft and Purely Pomegranate…you can check it out Here. I was excited to have my card chosen…thanks Melody & Emily … decided to have a little fun and create a card design specifically for the challenge!

Yes…it is simple! Some days…I just love clean and simple. Just stamping and a clean little layout. When I saw this week’s CPS#39 I knew it was one I just had to try. What a great layout Tami!

Heart to Heart

As I mentioned…this design is super simple…a Whisper White cardstock 5″ square base was stamped with the flourish from L’Amour stamp set by Lizze Anne Designs. The I Love You sentiment is from the LAD Heart to Heart stamp set and is accented by a little row of Hero Arts gemstone strips.

My bottom panel is Purely Pomegranate cardstock stamped with a heart from the L’Amour set in white craft ink. After swiping the edges with white craft, I stitched the layer to the card base with a straight stitch. My Kraft cardstock layer was stamped with the heart to heart stamp in black, from the set bearing its name. Inside the sentiment, I adhered a cut out paisley heart with some foam tape to pop it out. The layer was then adhered with a zigzag stitch for definition. Also on the heart…another little Hero arts gemstone for a little accent.

You may also have noticed how much fun I’ve been having lately adding these little Harvest Pins from Fancy Pants designs. I just love them! I found this little heart pin in my stash and it was a perfect coordinating brown for Kraft cardstock so of course, I had to use it! I’ve been enjoying how Nancy has been adding pins to her work using a button and just had to give it a whirl…isn’t it darling? The clear button is from Stampin Up and the ribbon…May Arts.