Monday, December 31, 2012

COF December Blog Hop!

Today is the last day of the month, the last day of the year! And that can only mean one thing...Crafters of Faith Blog Hop!  Our theme this month...snow! We have plenty of snow outside this morning. Four more inches of fluffy white snow fell, transforming the world into a winter wonderland!


I have this really old stamp set from SU called Snow Buddies. It seemed appropriate for today's theme! I finally got to play with my new colors from SU, too!

{Today's Brew: Snow Buddies (SU), Think Big Favorites (PTI), card stock from SU, MFT snow flake die, amuse twinkle, prisma markers, Stickles, corner rounder}


A little sparkle, a little bling, and a little cheer for the new year.

Now make sure you visit all of the blogs at the Crafters of Faith today! (list on right) Leave them some comment love!

Blessings on your eve!

Friday, December 28, 2012

Pantone 2013 Color of the Year

Have you seen the new color that Pantone has chosen for 2013? Trust me. You've probably seen it in a lot of places lately, but just didn't recognize it as the "latest thing". It's Emerald Green. Check out the latest catalogs. It's there. Peruse the clothing at the department stores. It's there. Emerald Green is everywhere!

You can see the complete list of Pantone's colors for Spring 2013 here:

http://www.pantone.com/pages/fcr.aspx?pg=21005&ca=4

I noticed a lot of familiar colors in that line up. They really resembled the In Colors that Stampin' Up chose for 2011-2013. And what great luck! These ink pads went to the SU clearance rack this month, too!


Island Indigo. Wisteria Wonder. Lucky Limeade. Pool Party. Calypso Coral. Happy colors. These colors speak to me. They say "Aren't you tired of crafting with all of that red and green? Wouldn't you love to make something with me today?"

Why yes, yes I would! But laundry and house cleaning beckons.

Tell me...what's your favorite color from Pantone's 2013 picks?

Thursday, December 27, 2012

PS Sparks Photo Challenge



This week's SPARKS challenge at the Paper Smooches blog: an inspirational photo in soothing shades of white and blue. This is a lovely winter palette, don't you think?


Here's what my caffeinated craftiness came up with: I used the vases and sentiment from Vogue Abode (Paper Smooches) to copy the look of the vases in the photo. I punched a few flowers, added a little bling, and mounted the focal image onto a background embossed in soothing white.

{Today's Brew: Vogue Abode (Paper Smooches), versafine onyx ink, prisma markers, baja breeze card stock (SU), naturals white card stock (PTI), embossing folder (SU), flower punch, amuse twinkles}


Thanks for visiting the cafe today!

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Papertrey Ink December2012 Blog Hop!


Merry Christmas and Happy Boxing Day! It is a winter wonderland outside, as the snow swirls and twirls to cover everything in a blanket of white. What a perfect day for today's PTI Blog Hop! Our inspiration? White on white.


There's something wonderful and peaceful about a snowy winter's day, especially if you do not have to drive in it! This card reflects that peace.

{Today's Brew: PTI Damask Snowflake die, PTI Wonderful Words Holiday die, PTI Impression Plate, PTI card stock, amuse studio ribbon, dazzling diamonds glitter}


Peace to you!

Monday, December 24, 2012

West Elm Inspired


I recently downloaded a copy of the West Elm catalog to my new NOOK HD (thank you, again, Hanna Andersson!). While flipping through the pages, I came across this photo and swooned. That blue wall! That orange chair! The rustic wood floor and the real Christmas tree! Stunning! I loved the paper garland that was used to decorate the tree.

Hey, paper garland? I can do that!


We finally picked out a Christmas tree yesterday. A Frasier Fir, our first real tree. The tree, the lights, and the stand cost under $50 total. Sometimes, it pays to procrastinate! Although the one downfall of waiting was that lights seemed to be sold out everywhere. We managed to find two boxes of colored lights. Our tree is very colorful!

One thing we discovered about real trees...the branches cannot support the heavy ornaments without serious sagging. So we skipped heavy ornaments in favor of lighter varieties. Lucky for me, my sweet Mom had given me a box of lightweight colored Christmas ornaments last year that matched perfectly with our colored lights. I pulled out the same colors of cardstock and got to work.


I got a little punch drunk, as you can see!


After punching, I folded the circles down the center.


This job is a lot more fun if you can enlist a friend to help!


I glued the folded circles onto a length of baker's twine. I used a repeating pattern of red, blue, green, purple, and pink.


The effect? Super fun, folksy and colorfully hand-crafted.


I love our perfectly imperfect Christmas tree! It reminds me of the colorful world of the video game Sugar Rush (from the movie Wreck It Ralph).


Thanks for visiting the cafe today! Merry Christmas Eve, my friends!

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Christmas Cards Cannibalized:Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge!


I was having a bad mojo day this week. I was trying to make a card for the Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge, and it was not coming together as planned. It was the kind of day where I colored and layered and assembled, but to no avail. I could not make a decent card, no matter how hard I tried. I left the failed attempts on my craft table and called it a day.

I went back to the sad cards today and decided to cannibalize them. That's one of the fun things about paper crafting. It's just paper! You can cut it up and have fun with it. No rules, just right!



I decided that the images would look much cuter on tags, so I cut them down to size, added a few accents, and came up with something that was much nicer than the original product.




{Today's Brew: Folkal Points stamp set (Paper Smooches), PTI card stock, gingham paper from Simple Stories, amuse ribbons, prisma markers, felt flower (Maya Road), button, paper doilies}

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Oh Birch Tree, Oh Birch Tree!


It began as a joke.

I wonder if we'll ever get a Christmas tree this year. Maybe we should just put lights on the birch trees.

"Oh birch tree, oh birch tree, how lovely are your branches!"

Son number one even drew a picture of what our birch trees would look like, all decked out in their Christmas finery.


While the boys were out of the house yesterday, I found a string of white lights in the basement and I did it. I put lights on our birch trees. The oldest sons think it's hysterical. The youngest son is a little concerned that Mom has totally lost her marbles this Christmas.


Seriously, who would NOT want a birch tree strung with lights in their home for the holiday season? I think I may be a bit of a trend setter this holiday. Just you wait! Next year, you'll be seeing trees just like this one all over Pinterest!

It could happen!

Will a Christmas tree happen? Who knows! Strangely, I'm very laid back about the holiday trappings this year. I have all of my sons home. We're healthy. We're happy to be together. My dear hubby is working twelve and fourteen hour days, six and seven days a week, to make Christmas happen for other families. He has a great job that, thanks be to God, supports us all. The pantry is full and the laundry is done. We have snow on the ground and Christmas in our hearts.

Peace.

Friday, December 21, 2012

A Little Something Extra


Sometimes you just need a gift tag that's a little extra special for the people in your life who will really appreciate it (i.e.women!). I made a few fun gift tags today using felt, die cuts, ribbon, and a few carefully placed french knots.





Just in time for gift giving!

{Today's Brew: PTI Christmas Poinsettia die cuts and stamp set, PTI felt, PTI card stock, tag die, ribbon from Stampin Up, DMC floss for french knots}

Thanks for stopping by the cafe today!

Thursday, December 20, 2012

When Life Gives You Scraps...


...make paper buttons!

Seriously, it's the easiest thing in the world! Take a circle punch (I used 3/4 inch) and punch out circles from the many scraps that are covering your work surface. (Please tell me I'm not the only one who has a craft room that looks like a disaster zone right now!) Then use a hand held hole punch to punch two holes. I suppose you could even make a four hole button, but it's the holidays, and we're too busy for that much fanciness, for pete's sake! Then string them with baker's twine, knot it, and you have custom made holiday buttons, ready for craftiness.


I used my buttons to embellish some Christmas gift tags I'm working on right now. The presents are wrapped, but they're not labelled yet, so these tags will really come in handy.


I hope your "noel" is "tres joyeux aujourd hui"!

That's fancy talk for "be extra happy Christmas today".

Now enough fanciness. I'm off to grab a coffee to go for some last minute shopping.

{Today's Brew: PTI 2009 Holiday Tags stamp set, PTI dies, PTI card stock, Simple Stories Handmade Holiday papers, baker's twine, circle punch, hole punch}

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Lazy Day


It's a lazy day.

A lazy day is a day when you can say "The shopping will get done another day."

Sure, the Christmas cards have not been mailed yet.  There are still a few presents to cross off the list. And did I mention...we still don't have a Christmas tree?

But those things will not get done today.

Today, I will take a morning nap. I will make a cup of tea, take it to the lower level, and make something.

Because Christmas will come. It always does.


{Today's Brew: Hero Arts stamps and dies, PTI stamps and die, wild wasabi card stock and ink, groovy guava card stock and ink, real rose ink, versafine onyx ink, My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline papers}

Monday, December 17, 2012

Coming in 2013! Prim House Hollow!


Happy Monday, cafe friends! I thought it would be a good time to share the "Light of the World" with you! 

I also have exciting news to share! The coming months of 2013 will bring a new venture for me here at the cafe. I will be working with my good friend, Beth, to bring you a new line of digital art! Prim House Hollow will feature many of the same images we loved from The Saltbox Studio (Amuse Art Stamps), along with new images and sentiments, too. This line of art will appeal to not only paper crafters, but needle art lovers as well.

You know that favorite little shop in the quaint town? The one that smells like mulled cider and welcomes you in  with its warmth and coziness? Well, that's what Prim House Hollow hopes to bring to you! Not only will there be digital art for you to download, but we will also feature quarterly online craft shows where you can purchase hand crafted goodies, crafting kits, and more.

We're busy making plans for the Prim House Hollow debut, so stay tuned!


{Today's Brew: images from The Saltbox Studio, PTI Ivory card stock, versafine onyx ink, prisma markers, amuse twinkles}

Keep your joy this Christmas season, friends!

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Musings From My Front Porch


"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.


Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.


This is the verdict; Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.


But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."     John 3:16-21

Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Thank You, Hanna Andersson!


In yesterday's post, I confessed to my love of Scandi Style. So it shouldn't come as any great surprise, then, that one of my favorite clothing companies is Hanna Andersson. I've been purchasing from them (via catalog) for years. And now, they have a store in Indianapolis! woo hoo!

I recently ordered a new dress for Christmas (Tell Me A Folk Tale Sweater Dress!), and when it came, there was also a reminder to enter a contest. Win a NOOK HD and a $100 gift card from Hanna Andersson! Sign me up! I sent in my entry via email and went along my merry way.

Last week, I received an email. Congratulations! You won the contest!

I wish you could've seen my son, Sam, when he heard the news! He did the happy dance!


I went to my local Barnes and Noble (one of my favorite places in the world) and picked up my new NOOK HD. It is a thing of beauty! When I told the staff how I won the contest, they were thrilled for me, too! The clerk said "Oh, sure! Hanna Andersson! The sweater people!" Yep! That's the one!


I picked up a cover to protect my NOOK, too. My husband tried to convince me to purchase something a little more understated.

"How about this nice black one? Or maybe this brown one?"

"Hell-o!" I answered. "This one has birds! Wearing glasses! It just says 'Hello, I'm happy! Take me home!'. Which I did, of course!


I promptly ordered a few apps for Sam's entertainment. Angry Birds StarWars edition, Cut The Rope, Pac Man, and others.


Here's Sam, wearing one of his favorite Hanna Andersson shirts (organic Oeko-Tex cotton, folks!), happily playing Fruit Ninja.


It has been a wonderful blessing that quickly put our family into the holiday spirit.

Thank you, Hanna Andersson!