Merry Christmas!

Hoping your days are filled with joy!   : ) Christine

I Love Tags...

but I am so intimidated by the care and creativity that goes into making them!  Last year I hit on the idea of monograms cut with the Cricut from American Crafts foil paper.  They were gorgeous!
This year my media of choice was, of course,  DCWV Glitzy Glitter paper.   I found this monogram set at the Silhouette on-line store and cut the letters at about 2 inches.  (It's called Winter Monogram Flourishes.)
I start out color coordinated...     So pretty, much easier than tags, and everyone always knows the gift is from DH and me!  LOL!

And look how pretty my sister's 'J' looks on her package!  Thanks for visiting with me today.
                                : ) Christine

Home(work) for the Holidays

Most of the family got together last weekend to celebrate DH's birthday.  Such fun!  The DGDs had just received their first trimester report cards and we were asking, as Grandparents MUST do, how they had progressed.  S confessed that she had been asked to master her multiplication facts through 4 over the holidays.  Poor S!  Everyone tried to help by springing multiplication questions on her at random moments!

Later that evening, I remembered the 'Flip Chute' that I had made 100 years ago when student teaching and how that had made the memorization process a fun game.  DH did his part by finishing off the carton of chocolate milk and after it was washed and dried, I added the card stock chutes inside and covered the outside with DCWV paper.  To make it seasonally appropriate, I used my Imagine and the Snow Angel cart to decorate the outside.  I finished off with plenty of Stickles and bling! 

If you haven't ever seen one of these before, you read off the question and post the card in the top slot.  You must answer the question before the card flips and presents the answer through the lower slot.  Very cute!   Is your mind racing with possibilities?  Parts of speech, states and their capitals, historical dates?  LOL!   

I am linking my Flip Chute up with the challenge at

Exploring Cricut . " It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas "


and the

FCCB Challenge #191 Anything but a Card, Holiday Ed.

 Thanks for visiting with me today!  : ) Christine

Brrrr!

Here in the PNW we are trying, like the rest of the country, to keep warm! I did tear myself away from the wood stove this afternoon to make another attempt at a floating easel card using my E.  ( I just LOVE this design by Karen B. at Sizzix but don't have the necessary dies to create a card the 'official' way!)

I had in mind this week's challenge at Cardz TV and the cold, cold, weather reminded me of a time long ago when we lived in Northern Alberta.  In winter, the Fire Dept. constructed a skating rink on a vacant lot close to our house and flooded it.  Every day after school it was filled with children practicing figure skating, playing skate tag, and having a glorious time.  Later, the ice hockey players would take over the rink and we'd hear the thud of the puck hitting the boards until late at night. 

This ice skater cut from Winter Woodland is a favorite of mine. Her dress is a scrap of my precious Theresa Collins paper flocked to resemble the furry outfits of the little girls in their 'tippy toe' skates.  I flocked and sparkled the tree too. 

I am HOPING Santa brings me a lightbox this year so that I can get some reasonable pictures of my stuff!  So, once again, my apologies for the quality of the photos.  I could NOT get a picture that didn't show the snowflake lines!  You can hardly see them in real life.   Aghhh!  Thanks for visiting with me today.  Stay warm!  : ) Christine

Cardz TV Go-To Galz Linky Party Challenge #9 

“Winter Wonderland"  

Create a card, layout or craft with a Winter scene.

So much for crafting plans!

Since the painters were painting the upstairs hallway as well as the great room, it was all taped and papered and covered in plastic and drop cloths!  No craft room access!   Aghhhh!  I spent the whole day watching "Downton Abbey' and trying to keep Cocoa from 'supervising' the painting process! 

Day 2,  I was prepared with a project prepped and ready on the kitchen table before the long suffering painters arrived to re-tape etc!  (Cocoa and Sam were banished outdoors since the sun was shining.)

This lollipop holder die came from My Creative Time, and is one of my favorite treat holders.  I have used it for Valentine's Day, Hanukkah, Halloween, July 4th, baby showers, to name a few occasions.  I have used it to hold mini bottles of hand sanitizer and hand cream, and stacks of mini chocolate bars, as well as various kinds of lollipops.  Pinterest has tons of ideas for decorating the holders.

Anyway, I made dozens of them yesterday as table decorations for a party.  They're not really blingy or sparkly as per request.  Gonna make some super fantastically sparkly ones as place name cards for my Christmas table as a reward for being so restrained!  LOL!

Thanks for visiting with me today.  : ) Christine

What's a girl to do...

when DH announces that it is time to send out the Christmas cards to friends and family overseas and the resident card crafter is still making THANKSGIVING cards?  Why, run right over to SVG cuts and download their Merry and Bright files!

I love this first one because it uses scraps and like everyone else, I have boxes of scraps!  I added glittery tulle and sequins since I thought this design had a 'quilt' feel to it.

The 'JOY' shaped card came together quite quickly and is easy to mass produce although since I am quite incapable of making two cards exactly alike, embellishing took a little extra time.

The painters are coming in tomorrow, so I will be staying out of the way and crafting in my room.  What a sacrifice!  LOL!   Thanks for visiting with me today.  : )  Christine

Sparkle and Bling!

I had a lovely day yesterday!  I was invited back to school to help with some math testing for the end of the first trimester.  It was wonderful to see everyone and to get to know the new Kinders.
Lovely as that was, I was happy to leave at the end of the day knowing that I was free to play in my craft room.  No grading!  No lesson plans!  No Report Cards!

Here's what I was playing with - Christmas treat boxes sparkling and shining all ready for the latest challenge at the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog!

                      Challenge #188: Sparkle and Bling

   I used Anna Griffin's Winter Wonderland cart to create the snowflake and poinsettia.  I do love the DCWV foil papers and their Glitzy Glitter line.  Can you see that I used my new TH Distress Glitter in the center of the poinsettia? I backed the embellies with glittery tulle from the Bridal aisle at J's and added some bling to the center of the snowflake.  Can't get much sparkly or blingy than that, right?  LOL!

Happy Thanksgiving!   Happy Thanksgivukkah!  And thanks for visiting with me today.  : ) Christine