Happy New Year!

I just want to wish everyone a safe and happy new year! Here's to an even better year than the last one filled with everything you hope to achieve! Hugs!



"A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing."

Super Duper Excited!

I am sooooo darn excited right now I can't stand it! Roberta has chosen me to be one of her Prairie Fairy DT members!! Wooo - hoooo! It isn't pretty, but I am sooo doing a happy dance right now! Roberta is getting ready to launch her digital stamps store and she is so talented! There are going to be so many amazing images to play with and I feel so blessed to be able to do that on her DT! They are some uber talented ladies on the team as well, and to be part of that is even more thrilling! She has some sneak peeks and a few freebies up at Prairie Fairy....hop on over to check it out! Hugs & Happy Scrappin'!

"A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing."

Merry Christmas!

Since I will be spending time with my family and my husband's family over the next four days and probably won't be online, I just wanted to take a moment to say Merry Christmas from my family to yours!
I hope that each and every one of you enjoy the time you spend with your loved ones and take time out to remember the true meaning of Christmas. We all get so carried away with what we should be giving or buying or decorating, but none of that is as important as celebrating the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I feel so blessed that God decided to share His son with us all!
Here's to hoping you have the Merriest Christmas ever! Hugs!


"A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing."

Peppermint Bark Popcorn Goodies!

Whew! I finally finished up all the neighbors' gifts, school gifts, and family friends' gifts! I have to say I am glad for the small break before I start cooking some of our Christmas meal! At least the kitchen bar will be clean for a few hours! I just wanted to share a yummy recipe & a quick gift idea with you before the holidays! This Peppermint Bark Popcorn recipe is from Our Best Bites, a site I recently discovered and absolutely love. You have to check them out! Now, I am not sure what I did, but mine did not turn out exactly like theirs. However, while different, it was still awesome and has been getting rave reviews! Plus, TJ & I had a blast making it this weekend! We poured everything on the dining room table to mix it and were covered completely in chocolatey, pepperminty, popcorny goo! The best part? Licking it off ourselves when were done! Mmmm!

After letting it set I just bagged it up, tied it up with some cute ribbon from Michael's I received in a swap and made some toppers using one of Prairy Fairy's free digi stamps! Roberta is so sweet and I have had so much fun playing with her images this Christmas! They have helped me make cute gifts for everyone! Make sure to snag them while you can! I used my watercolor pencils to color the image and then I added a little cotton to his hat, which I dabbed with ice Stickles. I also used black Stickles on his buttons, but they didn't show up too well in the photo. The can I set the popcorn in is a recycled Planter's peanut can. I save every can, glass jar, container, etc. throughout the year. And it pays off for quick and easy gifts like this! I just decorated it with some patterned paper by American Tradition Designs and it was done! And, it was recycled so there is less waste in a landfill somewhere; something I am big on anyway!

And this is one of two gift baskets I made for some special friends. Their bags included the rocky road candy, peppermint bark popcorn, chocolate covered pretzels and chocolate covered marshmallows that were dipped in either pecans or crushed candy canes. So far they have been a hit too! Now, if I can just loose all the weight that I know I have put on from sampling, I will have it made! Happy Scrappin'!

"A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing."

Sheet Music Bow & Altered Cocoa Box Gift

And the holiday crafting continues! I am almost at my breaking point, but not quite! Still enjoying it but am feeling the stress too...like I know so many of us are. Still have more baking to do and gifts to get to the neighbors, & hubby and I have to finish our Christmas shopping this weekend. Then I am done...I hope! LOL!

After my little adventure making my own bow for our Christmas tree turned out okay, I decided to make a few of my own bows for our packages. I love gift wrapping and making things pretty. I will never be as good as my mother in law, who is the queen of wrapping packages so beautiful you never want to open them, but I do fairly well in my own right. I love sheet music and I love the vintage look on wrapped Christmas gifts so this is what I came up with. I had picked up a vintage music book from 1962 for a quarter at thrift sale and used a couple pages to whip these bows up. They were pretty easy too! God bless staplers and hot glue guns! I really, really, really wanted to wrap the poinsettia paper in twine, but could not find mine anywhere. I have a sneaking suspicion that my son, who lives for making thngs with rope, twigs and duct tape, somehow came across mine and decided to make it his own. So I settled for a thin gold rope and wrapped it around the package several times loosely, topped it with the bow, then adhered some leaves, holly and miniature pine cone to the bow.

This next gift is an altered cocoa box. I wish I could claim the idea as my own but I can't. I seen it the other day on Running with Scissors. I loved it and decided to do my own. Super easy too. Start with a box of cocoa, cut off the top flaps, decorate with your fav. papers/bows/etc., fill it back with at least 1/2 the cocoa, some marshmallows in a little bag with cute ribbon, and a few candy canes. Below is a better photo of the top of the box showing the goodies inside. It didn't turn out quite the way I wanted or expected, but I rolled with it and it works for me! Oh, the paper I used for the cocoa box is by American Traditional Designs. The ribbon is recycled from a previous gift as is the shredded paper!

So, this weekend I am making some Peppermint Bark Popcorn, going to attempt to anyway, and do a few more goody bags. Be back soon to show you those! So, have you been working on any sweet holiday crafts? Tell me all about them! Happy Scrappin'!

"A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing."

Something Beautiful - Scrapsketch DT Layout

The Scrapsketch DT is taking the month off for December due to the holidays, but Stephanie is still issuing a sketch here and there to play with! She is so sweet and her sketches are great...including this one which was so much fun!

I really enjoyed creating this layout. It took me awhile to get it all figured out the way I wanted it, but I like how it turned out! The photos are from my sweet mom in law's house last Christmas. Her house is always beautiful and each year we stay the night Christmas Eve and stay Christmas Day too. Hubby's sister and her family comes to stay as well. We stay up late eating and watching movies, then wake up Christmas day to open presents. Andy's dad always makes sausage gravy & biscuits for breakfast and then we usually have brisket for Christmas lunch. We stay fat, sleepy and happy all day! I wanted to capture that tradition in this layout.

I believe the papers I used for this are by Elsie. I am not sure as they came in a bundle from the LSS fall garage sale. The flowers are canvas ones by Foof-a-la that I distressed with Autumn Leaves ink in topaz. I then layered them & added some vintage buttons. The chipboard monogram "C" sticker is also by Foof-a-la and the epoxy stickers are by Horizon. The flowers are Prima and I used a skittle as the center. The gathered ribbon is by Fiskars and I am not sure what brand the ornament is. The silver button is a vintage one from stash, as is the domino. The ruffle I made with a dress pattern from the Gauche Alchemy Lady Marmalade kit, and the twine is also by GA. The metal clip is SU, the journaling tag is Heidi Swapp, & the felt asterisk is an AC Thicker. The sheet music was sent to me and I fell in love with it...been saving it for something special to me like this!

If you get a chance, hop on over to Scrapsketch and check out Stephanie's latest sketch. It is a fun one as you can see and a couple of other DT members who have played with it have their layouts up as well. I hope to be back again tomorrow with some more holiday themed crafty goodness! Happy Scrappin'!


"A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing."

Let the Baking Begin! (& a recipe too!)

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas around our house as the baking begins! I truly love to cook and especially bake, which makes this one of my favorite times of the year. Over the next week and a half I will bake so much my feet will hurt, stress myself out, be grateful when it is all over with, and love every minute of it! The candy inside the goody bags is Rocky Road and I got the recipe from my awesome mom in law. Super easy recipe too: Melt 1lb chocolate almond bark, mix in one 7 oz jar of peanuts & one bag of miniature marshmallows, stir & drop on waxed paper with a teaspoon. Super easy and yummy!

These are the gifts for our son's teachers, and a few others at school. The digi stamp & sentiment are by the fabulous Roberta over at Prairie Fairy. And you can snag it as a free download too! Just click here. She has an amazing site and is gearing up to open her own digi store as well, so make sure to check her out!

I used my watercolor pencils on the reindeer, as well as red Stickles on his nose and a tiny piece of cotton for his tail which I then dabbed with ice Stickles. The cute little patterned paper I used for the toppers is by The Paper Studio & it is on clearance at HL. For the tag on the back I used my Cricut & Mini Monograms. The paper is by American Traditional Designs, the snowflakes are Studio G, & the "from" is an SU stamp. I used Studio G & Staz On ink as well.

I absolutely love this digi image and totally got the idea for these gifts from Roberta. I hope the teachers love them! She also put up the "snowman poop" version as a free digi too on Prairie Fairy and I plan on doing some gifts with that one later this week. So make sure to hop on over to her blog (sign up for her blog candy too!) & keep checking back here as I have more holiday crafty goodness to come! Happy Scrappin'!

"A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing."

A VERY Inexpensive Bow & Some Snapshots

I finally got my tree up! Yes, finally! It was a lighting nightmare. It's pre-lit but some fuses went out and it took me two days to get it working. It is a running joke in my family now about me and Christmas lights. Every year, and I do mean every year, I have some type of problem with lights. I figured I would eliminate that a couple years ago when we bought our pre-lit tree. Nope...I still have to fight it!So, I decided to do a different topper this year and kept seeing such pretty bows with the ribbons streaming down. And boy, were some of them expensive! So, I made my own. And I did it all with a few staples and a roll of ribbon from the Dollar Tree! The ribbon was $1 for 30 yards! One heck of a deal. Then I did my streamers coming down, and I think it looks pretty good if I may so myself!

And here is a pic of some ornaments. I thought these turned out really pretty!

And here is the boy and the fur baby. So cute!

Our gorgeous son!

And our adorable fur baby! Isn't he just precious?!

We are hoping this weekend to get our Christmas shopping done and out of the way. And I am hoping to get all my baking done, teachers' gifts finished and make a few more items. Whew! It is going to be a busy weekend! How are y'all doing on your shopping?

"A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing."

A Few Christmas Cards

Well here are a few cards I have working on for Christmas. I have quite a few more to do and it always seems that I end up waiting until the last minute to finish things. I am one of the world's worst procrastinators...but then again, I work great on a deadline! Go figure!

I love the cute little House Mouse Christmas stamp I just happened to find at Hobby Lobby for....yep, 71 cents. Can you believe it? Such a cutie! I also used my Cricut for the cards, as well as papers by The Paper Studio, Bazzill, & Autumn Leaves. The ribbons are American Crafts & Michael's, the sentiments are SU.

I should be back in a day or two with some more projects I have been working on too! Some layouts, some holiday decorations and some cards! Happy Scrapping!

"A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing."

Two for One! A WSB DT & Mojo Monday Challenge Combo

I am posting a day early for the Whimsical Scraps & Bugs DT challenge, but I wanted to make sure I got my card linked up to Mojo Monday since their sketch this week inspired my card as well! The latest challenge coming up over at WSB is to use your Cricut to create a wreath for a card. I challenged myself to paper piece a wreath and ended up using my Mini Monograms cart and its awesome scallop circle feature. I have to say that this is probably my fav cart and fav feature hands down. I turn to it time and again for so many projects!

The paper I used for the card included The Paper Studio, Provo Craft & Autumn Leaves. The leaf paper I made using a SU Stampin' Round roller and Old Olive SU ink. The bling is by Studio 18, the ribbon is from a Christmas present I received last year ( i totally save all my packaging every year and upcycle it any way i can!), and the buttons are some vintage ones from my stash. I also used some Autumn Leaves ink in topaz to distress the edges of all the papers. I also used pop dots on each level of the wreath to give it some dimension. I used an SU sentiment inside the card and stamped "warm wishes" with SU Riding Hood Red ink. (don't you just love the cute names SU always comes up with for its ink?!)

Make sure you hop on over to WSB and check out what some of the other DT members came up with! And, check out Mojo Monday too if you get a chance...they always have great projects to inspire you! I also want to say that I am sorry for not posting so regularly lately. Things have been hectic. However, I promise to do a better job keeping up with my crafty postings even though it is one of the most busy times of the year due to the holidays. I am working on several projects and may even have another post to put up later today...or at least tomorrow! So make sure to check back! Happy Scrapping!



"A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing."

Great Blog Candy & New Digital Co.!

The awesome Roberta over at Prairie Fairy (and a fellow Lime Light DT member of mine!) has some great blog candy on her blog that she is giving away....so make sure to check it out!

But not only that, I am so happy to say that she is getting ready to launch her own digital stamp co., Prairie Fairie Digital Stamps! I am so excited because she is super duper talented and I love all her work! And right now she has a digital freebie for everyone to snag! It is the cutest little reindeer and sentiment ever! Totally love it..it is both naughty and nice. Plus, she has a tutorial for using the cutie pie image too! Such a great preview for all the other cute images to follow in her store!

So RUN don't walk over to Roberta's blog to snag the freebie, get the deets on her launch, and sign up for her blog candy! Happy Scrappin'!

"A Proud member of The Lime Light. Click on over to see what we are doing."