Snowflake Mittens

Yesterday was Ashley's birthday. I got her age right this year (37) of which she was glad.  She and Sonny went out early to finish up their Christmas shopping.  When they got back home, Ashley and I went out to finish up the loose ends in our Christmas shopping and baking.  We met Sonny for lunch at Purple Garlic (yummy meatball sandwich!!).  Sonny and Ashley did their annual baking of sausage balls while I made some chocolate pretzels and marinated mushrooms.  We went out for dinner at Josephine's for steaks.  So it was a pretty quiet day but we squeezed a lot into it!

Our cats are still taking a wide berth but they are tolerating each other at least and we are not having to keep them shut up and separated any more.  Here is a video I took today of them that is really cute!

And a little more Christmas trivia for you .....

There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me. What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas? 

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember. 

• The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ. 
• Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.
• Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.
• The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
• The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.
• The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.
• Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching,Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.
• The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.
• Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.
• The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.
• The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.
• The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

 So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now I know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol...so pass it on if you wish.

OK - now for a card I made: 
I love the Perfectly Preserved set and how versatile it is!  Here is a Christmas card I made using the set.  I stamped the jar with Bashful Blue ink on vellum and stamped a snowflake in the center with White craft ink and embossed in white.  The mittens are cut out with a die that I have had for several years (Spell-binders I think) but SU has a mitten punch that could be used also.  I stamped and embossed the snowflake onto the mittens as well. 

October Stamp Club

This is Stamp Club week.  Tuesday I had 7 ladies and one cat at the gathering!  Sammie has really gotten a lot more playful in the past couple of months.  It used to be when I would have people over, she would go into hiding.  But, not any more!   I wish I'd taken pictures.  We'll see if she does the same thing today when my Thursday group arrives.

We made a variety of cards this month.  I had a request for a birthday card and I had to do a Halloween / fall card plus I have a few ladies that want to do Christmas cards.  So, I tried to fit them all in!

Not much stamping on this birthday card.

 Supplies:
Cardstock:  Pretty in Pink, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Polka Dot DSP
Ink:  Rich Razzleberry
Accessories / Tools:  Razzleberry ribbon, Scallop Punch, Cupcake Punch, Crimper, Sticky Paper, Glitter, Extra Lg Oval Punch, Designer Frames
Stamp:  Word For You (I think that is the name of it!)

 Supplies:
Card Stock:  Going Gray, Tangerine Tango, Lucky Limeade, Very Vanilla, Howlstooth DSP
Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Black, More Mustard
Accessories / Tools:   Small Oval Punch (for pumpkins), Daubers, White Gel Pen, Ribbon, Perf. Preserved Framelits, Banners Frameslits, Ribbon (retired - from SAB)
Stamps:  Everything Eleanor, Perfectly Preserved

This was CASE'd from Chic'N'Scratch.  She has a great video demonstrating how she made this treat holder.  I gave everyone a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup to put inside the pocket and we made a little 3x3" card for the back pocket.

The next two cards are Christmas cards.  I let the ladies pick which one they wanted to make.  We did the coloring on both cards with Watercolor Crayons.

Stylin' Snowman Stamp Set

Winter Memories Stamp Set

Perfectly Preserved in Water

Hope your weekend was a good one.  Mine was.  Friday night Sonny & I went out to eat at a new-ish pizza restaurant in Mooresville, Salty Caper.  I just love that name!  Saturday Marianne and I went to a Follk Art Festival in Sherrills Ford.  It was fun and there was some neat things there although folk art is really not our style.  But I got an early birthday present out of the outing!  The last booth we visited had flowers - about 5 feet tall - that were made out of metal.  They were so cool and priced to sell.  There were a lot of people milling around and buying them.  So Marianne bought me one and we brought it home and "planted" it in my yard - a bright yellow sunflower. 

Saturday was National Card Making Day and I had all intentions of making some cards.  Unfortunately, I have been a bit under the weather this weekend.  I thinkit  is sinus stuff.  My throat has been real sore.  Saturday night before I went to bed, I took a decongestant tablet.  It helped but I had a hard time sleeping and looked at the clock by my  bed every hour!  I'm not taking one tonight that is for sure!  I took it this morning instead.  But I'm still feeling rather achy and yucky.  I'm scheduled to play bridge tomorrow and I have a dr. appointment for another issue so hopefully, I'll feel better.

Here is a card I made a few weeks ago using Perfectly Preserved.  There is so much you can do with this set.  I really like it and I haven't even touched the surface.  I stamped the jar on card stock and using a mask, sponged Turqoise on the bottom to look like water.  Then I stamped the flowers using markers.  I stamped one set with Daffodil Delight and overstamped it with Tangerine.  The DSP is from the Festival Prints in the holiday mini catalog.

close up of "water"

It was a nail biter game today with the Steelers which seems to be their favorite way to play!  They pulled it off in the last few seconds against Philadelphia.  But, the Panthers didn't fare so well.  Marianne had tickets to the game and I told her she better pull off the win for them.  But, she didn't listen!

Anniversary Preserved

I made an anniversary card last week for my son and his wife.  They celebrated 8 years last week.  It's hard to believe!  Just doesn't seem like it has been that long.  Darcie wrote a sweet post on her blog on their anniversary.  Jeff travels a bit for his job and was in Atlanta on their anniversary.  When he returned home, she was headed to California for a writer's conference so their anniversary celebration was going to have to wait.  Perhaps until this week when they are flying to Florida and going on a Disney cruise.  Of course, Jayce will be with them but I think those Disney ships have built in babysitters so they should be able to steal a bit of together time.  Hope so! 

I used the Perfectly Preserved set to make their card.  I thought it was cute to put the hearts in the jar.  Hope you can see the card well enough - not the best photography on this one.  I used some of the retired Spice Cake DSP that I had.

I've really been on a roll the past few days with making cards!  I've been working on Christmas cards!  Whoo Hoo!!  I'll be sharing them with you in the next few days. 

Have you been watching any of the new tv shows this week?  We tried out Vegas tonight and have watched The Mob Doctor also.  I'm excited to see Nashville but it doesn't start until Oct 10.  Also one of my favorites, The Amazing Race starts this Sunday.  I think it is one of the best reality shows out there, although I also love The Voice.  I just love Adam Levine (Maroon 5) and Blake Shelton.  Their bantering back and forth is so funny.  We watch entirely too much tv but hey .... that's what we do!

Button Jar

How about another card with Perfectly Preserved?  This time the jar is filled with buttons.  Did your grandmother have a button jar?  Mine did a lot of sewing but I never found her button jar.  But, I do have several buttons that belonged to my great Aunt Love.  I keep them in a container in my vintage guest room along with a lot of items belonging to my grandmother.

I punched out a bunch of different colored buttons from cardstock (Daffodil Delight, Rich Rizzleberry, Tempting Turquise) using the Big Shot and the Button Sizzix die.  Here is what I did to make this card:

• Use the jar framelit to cut the opening in the front of the card
• Stamp the jar onto vellum and adhere to the back of the opening
• Sandwich the buttons between the vellum and a rectangle of white card stock
• Adhere a piece of Summer Smoosh DSP inside to cover the jar opening and vellum

 

I cut the curvy piece of DSP using a template that I bought at CKC.  I think it adds just the right touch along with the banners at the top and the card stock button.

Inside of card

I was at the grocery store earlier in the week and saw a display for Hatch Peppers.  There was a big sign announcing that Hatch Chilies were back.  Well, I had never heard of them and had no idea what to do with them but I bought a couple of them anyway.  After looking for recipes on the internet, I found a recipe for Quesadillas and made them for dinner tonight. They were really good but pretty hot.  If you like HOT, these are for you!!  Even Sonny thought they were hot!  Here's the recipe if you want to give them a try:

• 2 hatch chiles (the recipe actually called for 4 but 2 was plenty for us)
• 1 T butter
• 1 t olive oil
• 1 med. onion, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• pinch Kosher salt
• 4 flour tortillas
• 1 1/2-2 C shredded pepper jack cheese (I used a Mexican pre-packaged shredded mix)

1. Broil chilies (with oven rack 6" from top) until skin is blackened & blistered about 5-6 minutes.
2. Transfer roasted peppers to a paper bag & close for about 15 minutes.  This allows peppers to sweat making removing the skins easier.
3. Remove the skin, seeds & stems of the roasted peppers (you should wear gloves but I didn't have any.)  Chop peppers.
4. Heat butter & olive oil in skillet.  Once butter has melted, saute onions.  Cook until they start to brown, about 15 minutes.  Stir in roasted peppers, garlic and salt.  Remove from heat.
5. To assemble quesadilla, place one tortilla on a flat surface; sprinkle half cheese & half of pepper mixture onto tortilla.  Place the other tortilla on top.  Cook quesadillas in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until the cheese is melted & the tortilla begins to brown.  Slice and serve immediately.

Tortillas are a staple in our house and ours are large ones.  One quesadilla was plenty for both of us although I had made 4 of them with the above ingredients.  Luckily, I did not cook the other two and froze them for another time.

August Stamp Club

I have been so busy this week, I have not had any time to be creative.  I hate it when that happens.  Although, to see my stamp room, you wouldn't believe me.  It is a mess - just about every surface is covered up with something not to mention the floor!  Tomorrow is the first day this week that I don't have anything scheduled.  I hope to be able to play a little bit and clean but I think Sonny has plans for us to go out on the boat.  Maybe a little of both will happen.  Monday I played bridge (and won $3!! - whoo hoo!)  Tuesday I drove to Charlotte for a Red Cross meeting.  While I was there, I drove over to Park Rd. Shopping Center, which was my old stomping ground when I was a teenager.  It's so funny to see that some of the same stores are still there!!  I had lunch at a cafe there that my mom loves.  When I told her about it that evening, she told me she hoped I had indigestion!!  I tried to do a surprise visit to my aunt who I haven't seen in years but she wasn't home.  Wednesday, I had a doctor's appointment as well as my mom.  I had scheduled them both on the same day so I wouldn't have to go twice so that helped.  He was really pleased and surprised at how well my mom was doing.  She has stopped taking the pain meds and just takes Alieve during the day.  It is so great to see her getting  back to doing her regular stuff again.  Keep your fingers crossed that this continues.

Today I had my Thursday Stamp Club.  We made several items.

For the Birds

 On this card, each person chose their stamped image from the stamp set, For the Birds.  A few chose to make it a Christmas card with plaid Christmas DSP.  The image was colored with markers.  I colored the Baker's Twine with my marker to make it pink.

Stippled Blossom

 This was the favorite!  I think almost everyone bought the ink and the stamp set!  It makes a gorgeous card and I know I will be using this set again and again.  We stamped the image with Primrose Petals - the outline image is stamped full strength and the inside image was stamped off on scrap paper before stamping on the Vanilla cardstock.  We did the same thing with the leaves.  The shape is from the Apothecary Framelits.  We used the paper piercer and the new Piercing Templates to prick around the image.  The final touch was to lightly sponge Chocolate Chip ink around the edges.

Perfectly Preserved

This is one of my favorites.  I just love this little mason jar!  I also showed them how they could just use the Framelit to cut the jar into the card itself and put the images (apples, pears, etc) on the inside of the card just peeking through.

We also made a 3x3 card box with cards and envelopes inside using Bootiful Occasions.  I'll share those later.  I need to take a picture.

Perfectly Preserved plus lots of SU News

The new "not so mini" Holiday Catalog is up and ready to order from it as of yesterday.  It's a great one and I am going to go broke ordering from it!!  Click HERE to see it online. 

And our MDS special -

•MDS 2 Free Trial: – Full access to the software at NO COST for 30 days. (Item #130910)
•MDS 2 Full Software: $39.95 US (Item #130644) Compatible with Mac and Windows
•MDS 2+ Full Software plus over $500 of digital content: $79.95 US (Item #130646)
•MDS 2 Upgrade: Full Software for those who already own the original MDS software. $19.95 (Item #130650
•August Special Offer: 31% OFF Select Digital Content!

AND during August, Stampin' Up has treats but no tricks for you! If you join Stampin' Up! during August you will get a FREE Howl-o-ween Printer's Tray project kit - a $60 value!

I am excited to have my Stylin' Snowfolk card HERE featured on Kelly's Blog Finds of the Day today.  Blog Finds of the Day is a service Kelly provides members of the Late Night Stampers Yahoo Groups. It is a daily list that is emailed out to the Yahoo Group Subscribers.  Its sole purpose is to keep all those amazing links in one easy to navigate place. She makes it easy for us to find some great ideas.  Check it out!

Below is a card I made using the Perfectly Preserved stamp set from the Holiday Catalog.  I can see a lot of possibilities with this card PLUS there are dies (Framelits) that match for cutting out the images.  If you buy the bundle of the stamp set and the dies, you save $$$ (and we all want to do that!)  On this card, I stamped the jar onto vellum and cut it out (using the die).  The flower stems are stamped directly onto the white rectangle.  The flowers and leaves are stamped onto scrap white and punched out (with the die).  I cut about 1 1/2" off the side of the Peach Parfait paper (retired).  The Sale-a-bration DSP and the Pear Pizazz scallop strip (all retired) are adhered to the inside of the card.  I also used some of the Pear and Peach ribbon from Saleabration.  I just love this Everyday Enchantment DSP even though it is retired.  I ordered a pack of it before it retired and now wish I had ordered more!!