More Christmas Canvas

I told you I was addicted to the process of creating on canvas. I saw online that someone had made a gift bag using the mosaic punch to create a Christmas tree. I thought it was an awesome idea, but gift bags can be destroyed and thrown away. I wanted to make something a little more permanent, so I put mine on the canvas. I used reinker to mix with white craft paint to paint the canvas, and then added the five layered punches and bling to create the tree. I still haven't quite figured out how to keep the ink from smearing when I add the modge podge to seal it, but I figure another few canvases and I'll have the technique mastered!

Classroom Santas

You can't bring a gift to the teacher, and not bring treats for the entire class. So once the teacher gifts were sorted, I got to work making petal cone die Santa's for Jay to give to his classmates. While I didn't mind making them, they did use up all my Real Red cardstock. Guess what I will be ordering before Valentine's Day!

Teacher gifts- Canvas Santas

I'm so glad my son is still little enough to want to give Christmas gifts to his teachers.  (My teenage daughter has so outgrown that!) This year I decided to do the Note pad covers on a much larger scale. You know what I'm talking about.....like these seen Here.

I have really been into the canvas art lately, and I thought creating a santa based on the note pad idea in a larger canvas art would be a great update. I think the teachers liked them, but even if they didn't, they were so much fun to make!

Cookie Exchange Gift

So, for the cookie exchange party at my house, I thought it would be fun to send everyone home with a copy of the recipes used to make the cookies they received during the exchange. Of course, being a paper craft fanatic, I couldn't let them just get a blank recipe card....I had to give them something pretty to keep them in, so I decided to make these recipe boxes.

I loved the added touch of using the snowflake bling as one of the O's in the word cookie. But it still wasn't quite fancy enough.....then I realized I had all those snowflake ornaments from the kit that was sold in December. That was exactly what this box needed. I loved the way they finally turned out, and I believe the guests liked them too!

Gingerbread Invites

So a couple of years ago a friend invited me to a cookie exchange for Christmas. We each brought several dozen cookies and traded with the other attendees, so when we went home, we had several different kinds.

Since I was feeling better, I  thought this would be a wonderful way to get the neighbors and friends together for a girl's day.

The first thing I had to do was get invitations made and handed out. I saw the gingerbread punch art idea on line, and thought that would be perfect for the cookie exchange, but the rolling pin invite was all my own idea. (I know, something I didn't case.....can you believe it?).

I really loved the way these turned out, and since the party happened a month ago, I can tell you that it went very well. We had a blast, and remarkably, no one brought gingerbread men! I definitely think this may be the start to a yearly event.

Another Thanksgiving project

I don't know how many of you purchased the bow die from Stampin' Up!, but I got it on one of their super weekly sales. I had been looking at it, but I just couldn't see spending the money.....and then Kirsteen Gill had to create this adorable Turkey using it and I was hooked!

It felt like Christmas waiting for it to arrive, but once it came I got straight to work. I made ten of these suckers as gifts for teachers, neighbors, and of course friends!

While Jay was disappointed his turkey didn't have as many candy pieces as his teachers, he soon got over it when I told him we had one here at home he could eat after the holiday.

November Rocks!!!

I love November....maybe because it is full of Fall weather (my absolute favorite time of year) and the color orange (my absolute favorite color) and FOOD!

Thanksgiving is one of the best holidays ever, but if you ask me, even better is the day after Thanksgiving. What is it about Thanksgiving leftovers that tastes so much better the second time around?

Anyway, to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, Jay asked me to make Turkey's to take to school. I found a few ideas on the web, but nothing that really struck my fancy, so I took the best parts from several of them and mashed them all together in my own version of a punch art turkey treat.

I think they turned out pretty cute, and even though I am sure most of them didn't make it home without getting their legs ripped off.....Jay insists the kids enjoyed them!

Oh, and something important I learned this year that is definitely worth sharing. I used to buy large bags of M&Ms and sort them by color to make sure I had the right ones, but this year, on a whim I found a huge bag of Reese's Pieces......They definitely are fall colors....and no sorting involved!

Final Halloween Project

This is my last Halloween share for 2013.

The Sunday before Halloween I found myself glued in front of the TV watching football with nothing to keep my hands busy. The next thing I knew, I was putting together these candy holders to pass out to my "special" trick or treaters in the neighborhood. (I told you once I started I couldn't stop!),

You know what I'm talking about. There are those neighbor kids that always get a bigger handful of candy or a special treat just because you actually know who they are.

My kids and hubby lovingly called these my Halloween Tacos.....and I can see why. Notice the curly paper technique also is making a reappearance in this project as well as a little more punch art!

Unfortunately we had a cold rainy trick or treat day, so some of my treats didn't get to be passed out......but never fear, Jay took care of the candy they were holding, so at least that didn't go to waste!

Candy filled Witches Legs

I saw this super cute idea from Stamp with Heather, and just had to give it a try. I had book marked it over a year ago, but was actually able to find the idea and even though I didn't have the stocking punch, my upline was sweet enough to let me borrow hers.

This was one of those special projects for a special friend, not something I would have wanted to make 30 of for Jay's class, but it did turn out pretty amazing.

I could see all kinds of different takes on this idea....Elf legs anyone?

Halloween Teacher Treats

So, I couldn't just send the mummys to school for the kids without sending something for Jay's teachers. They are such great people, and I really do appreciate how much they work with him and the other 29 students in his class.

I had seen several of these curly paper wreaths on other peoples blogs, but hadn't made one myself. Most of the ones I saw online were made using the styrofoam wreath forms, but those things are expensive! I'm not a cheapskate by any means, but since I was making five of these, I thought there had to be a better way......

Cardboard! Nothing said the wreath had to be three dimensional, and with the curly paper to fill it out, you can't even tell these are just flat circles of cardboard unless you look at the back. I hadn't really used the Halloween Washi tape from Stampin' Up! yet, and of course, I had to put my favorite thing, punch art on there as well.

I thought they turned out adorable, and by the thank-you notes I received, the teachers thought so too!

Another bonus about this project, it is the perfect busy work project you can think of. Once you have the paper strips cut, it was just a matter of curling them with my bone folder and using glue dots to stick them onto the cardboard. I answer phones all day for my "real" job, so I just sat there curling and sticking away while talking on the phone. It made the day and the project go much faster!

Little Mummy's can't have all the fun.....

So while I was thinking of Mummys, I wondered what kind of treat box I could create using the same idea. I found a pattern for a coffin on the internet, and started there. I have to admit, the directions I found weren't very self explanatory, so it ended up being a one time only project. I won't be making it again anytime soon.

Maybe if one of you has better directions for a coffin box you are willing to share, I will give it another shot. Either way, it did turn out to be a pretty cute project. And it can hold quite a bit of candy.....not that I actually know how much. My son found the candy stash and ate it before I could ever quite fill this box.

Woohoo....Halloween!

Are any of you as big Halloween fans as I am? While I don't really dress up any more, I still love the ghosts, ghouls and witches that are abundant this time of year.

I'm not a scary, haunted house kind of girl, but if you can make it cute, I'm all for it. So, needless to say, the next few days will be filled with Halloween treats.

It seemed like once I started getting ready for this holiday, I just couldn't stop. For example, Jay asked me to volunteer to bring a bag of candy to his Halloween party at school. Well what fun is that?

He chose miniature Twix bars, and honestly.....those aren't very Halloweeny at all. So, I dressed them up a bit using a punch (of course) and the really neat washi tape that Stampin' Up! has started carrying.

What I ended up with were these adorable little mummys, the absolute perfect size to hold one miniature Twix bar each!

Flashback to October

October 14th is my darling son's birthday. This year, we finally started to get into Football (much to my delight) and even played on a Flag Football team at the Y! Since his birthday fell during Flag Football season, and since his party consisted of a Sunday trip to see the St. Louis Rams play, what was more appropriate than a candy bag topper showing his current favorite sport.

You might recognize the football player from my Lions vs. Patriots preseason post (Wow! that was a long time ago!).

I thought these turned out extremely cute, and so did the kids in his class and on his football team.

Since we are such big football fans in our house....I'm sure these cute little bruisers will make another appearance soon......Maybe even for SuperBowl!

On to September.......

Ok, honestly, September must have been a pretty rough month. I have no projects that I actually created in September. Which seems rather strange considering that I had just gotten back from convention and had all those new goodies to play with.

So, since I don't have anything I made in September to show you.....how about I show you something I should have made in September?

My birthday and my beautiful daughter Katie's birthday both are in September.....as a matter of fact, they are a day apart. We spent our birthday weekend by having a Mom daughter day and going to see Chicago the Musical at the Fox theater in St. Louis. We had amazing seats and were lucky enough to sit in the first row.

It was a great day, and a wonderful memory (there aren't too many of those lately considering she's 15 and teenage girls can be total monsters at times!).

So, to represent our birthday month, here is an adorable birthday card made using nothing but framelits and punches. I'm a huge punch art fan (in case you didn't know or couldn't tell from my posts!) and I just thought this guy was too cute not to share!