Snow

Last year we had a nice snow in our neck of the woods. Snow is so infrequent around here that instead of battling it, everything shuts down. HH and I took advantage of the time off and went tramping through the woods to see it in all of its white finery. It’s amazing how everything is transformed when it snows. The drab and dreary winter woods change to brilliant and pristine when given a coat of glistening snow.  I love how our red coats stand out so vibrantly against it. 

The Pink Elephant has started up a scrapbook challenge (YEA!)   
I used their cute Challenge #44 Layout for my snow page. 
Stop by and leave the design team at TPE some love.

  

For the snowman on the sled die cut 
I used Jolly Holiday from Cricut

and Winter Woodland for the snowflakes.  
The ribbon is from my stash.

 Since I used a snowman in my layout I thought I'd enter the "Got Snow?" Challenge over at My Sheri Crafts and the Snowmen challenge at Bitten by the Bug2. They have some cute snowmen/women over there. Whimsical Designs is asking for a little sparkle and a snowflake for their Wednesday Challenge Check them out!

Crochet Cowl Neck Poncho

I don't like to just sit when I'm watching television. I have to be doing some sort of hand work. It's been rainy and a great time to curl up and watch T.V. but what to do?  Fortunately I had

recently run across a pattern for a lovely crocheted poncho with a cowl neck on the Lion Brand Website. It looked fairly straight forward, (only 4 types of stitches) and Michael’s was having a sale on yarn so I took the plunge.  I was pleasantly surprised at how quick and easy this was to make. 

Cowl Neck Poncho Pattern # L10742

I used Vanna’s Choice Lion Brand Yarn in Grey Marble. This yarn is easy to work with and very soft. The pattern called for 4 skeins of yarn, but I ended up having to use almost 5.

 I finished it just in time, because a cold front came through and it was just the right weight to keep me warm.

L7 Think Square

I know I'm showing my age with a title like L7. But what do you get if you make an L with your left hand and a 7 with your right hand, and then put them together?
I’ve had this film die cut hanging on my bulletin board long enough. I cut it several years  ago at a crop-night knowing that I would use it someday and finally that day has arrived. I am giving myself permission to use the materials I have on hand to create, so as soon as I saw the It's Hip to be Square challenge over at The Cuttlebug Spot. I knew that this was a perfect fit. I used it to frame pictures of each of my GBs.

Close Up of Frame

I cut aqua cardstock for the background of the filmstrip and used a Cuttlebug embossing folder to give it dimension and carry the square then even further. I used the Cricut cartridge

A Child’s Year for this layout. I cut the 2 little girls silhouette, it was actually 2 girls and a little boy, but I snipped him off and rounded out the little girl’s hand that was holding his.

Close up of Girls

  Because I used the font for Sisters from A Child's Year cartridge. (LUV this cartridge!) 

I'm going to enter into the Fontastic challenge over at Bitten by the Bug 2!

The journaling tag is cut from a memo pad I bought on clearance last year.

TIP: Pick up cute memo pads when you find them on clearance. They are perfect for journaling since they are usually lined and what you don’t use crafting you can use for notes.

I give myself permission

I give myself permission

I saw on Your Home Based Mom blog that instead of making new years resolutions she has a Word or Statement of the year that she tries to live by. The more I thought about it the more I liked the idea, so this year I’ve decided to make my word of the year Permission. I actually started this list several years ago. I recently stumbled across it and when I read over it, I realized that I had accomplished some of these things and I really feel good about it so this year I will continue to give myself permission to:

Be creative

Use my hands to express myself

Paint from my soul

Laugh at silly jokes

Try new things

Do something no one has done before

Sing at the top of my lungs

Dance in the wind before a storm, naked if I want too

Make something I’ve never seen

Sew without using a pattern

Draw on the wall

Create another world

Write down my inner most thoughts

Think with abandon

Cry

Laugh

Shout

Be quiet

Do absolutely nothing

Take naps

Call in sick even if I don’t feel that bad

Be hopeful

Be honest with myself

Sew

Create even when the house is dirty

Call my kids and tell them I love them in the middle of the day

Get together with friends just because

Entertain even when the house isn’t ‘that’ clean

Hug someone when they look like they need it

Tell my friends that I love them

Start fresh

Start a resolution as many times as I need to

Enjoy a sunset or sunrise

Sit quietly

Be by myself

Say thank you

Smile at strangers

Eat healthy and then have a dessert if I want one

Rent a movie that I want to watch

Give money to a homeless person

Not be too cool to show enthusiasm

Think outside the box

Work hard and play hard

Be me, who ever that is

. . .

What will your word of the year be?

Quick Card

Ever have one of those uh-oh moments when you realize you’ve forgotten an occasion and need a card in a snap? Haven’t we all? I did that very thing the other day when I was getting ready for work and suddenly remembered a co-workers birthday. I ran into my craft room to grab a card only to discover my stash of go to cards was empty.  A-R-G! panic, then that little creative light flashes.  I grabbed my trusty Cricut cartridge, A Child’s Year, a scrap of black paper, a piece of cardstock and in seconds flat I had a cute card anyone would be happy to receive.  

A Child's Year Cricut Cartridge

  For the finishing touch I grabbed a clear stamp I had gotten for Christmas and quick as a flash stamped a Happy Birthday sentiment inside and wrote a personal note. 

Christmas Present Stamp

 Since the card didn’t need to be mailed I decided to fore-go an envelope. (that saved another 10 minutes) I just snuck into her office and left the card propped open on her computer so it would be the first thing she saw that morning. 

With In 10 minutes I had a no frills, but personal and better than a store bought card.

I'm going to enter this in Cut It Up Challenge #10 In With The New (my stamp!) 

stop by and and check out all the creative inspirations.

Embossing on Wood

We had the first white Christmas in many years here in East Texas. In honor of the event I created this snowflake tray.  I started with a raw wood tray that I got at Hobby Lobby. I gave it a coat of blue paint. 

Next, I cut snowflakes of various sizes from the Winter Woodland Cricut cartridge and glued them down in a random pattern.

   Something I’ve wanted to try is embossing on wood. I haven’t done much embossing at all so I didn’t know if it was possible, but I thought I’d try it on this project. I did a practice stamp on the raw wood of the bottom of the tray. It worked pretty much like embossing does on paper except the ink bled into the wood grain slightly.  Not to be daunted, I decided to try again.  After I painted the tray and glued on the snowflakes I tried embossing again. I figured that after the wood was painted, it would be sealed and take care of the bleeding problem. I was right.  

Embossed Snowflakes on either side of Winter Woodland Cricut cut

Using a winter stamp set from the $1.00 bin at Michael’s, I stamped snowflakes with clear embossing ink. I sprinkled white Zing!  Embossing powder by American Crafts on part of the flakes and Stampendous! Transparent Star Dust over the rest of the snowflakes.  I love watching the embossing powder heat up and make it's transition from powder to a glossy image. It's like magic. As you can see in the photograph above the white Zing! stands out better, but I like the sparkly quality of the Star Dust powder too. Which one do you like?

The Finished Tray

I’ll be entering my Snowflake tray project in the following challenges. Hope you’ll stop by and see all the fun projects, cards and layouts they have out there!

Bitten by the Bug 2 Snowflake challenge

My Craft Spot #81 Frosty Days Challenge

Go Fish Challenge #32 Winter

Little Scrap Pieces, Fun Friday Winter Blues Challenge