It ain't over yet!

I've still got some winter projects left to do - kinda missed the rest of Christmas. I was wracking my brain tonight trying to find the perfect packaging and here is what I came up with:




For the tag I used the sizzix snowflake covered with Ski Slope DSP, a large felt flurry from Stampin' Up!, a snowflake from spellbinders covered with Martha Stewart chunky glitter, a small felt flurry, and finally a button with white taffeta ribbon threaded thru it.

The 'box in a bag' (tutorial here) was made using white card stock, Snowflake Spot stamps, Baja Blue and Red Riding Hood card stock.

Happy New Year!

Day 12 and Merry Christmas!

It's only been DAYS since I was supposed to post my Day 12 and reveal my awesome Secret Elf!

Sorry. Life here at my home has been abosolutely crazy and every minute jam packed.

But it's been absolutely worth it! Christmas was wonderful. I hope it was for all of you and yours, too!

And so without further ado I bring you Day 12:


I have been SO wanting the Serif alphabet dies that go with the Big Shot, but just can't justify the cost, yet. And soooooo, Amy sent me lots of die cut alphabets! White, Red and Chocolate Chip! The perfect ending to the 12 days.

And my Secret Elf is Amy. I love this woman! We met up at Stampin' Up!'s convention last summer and have been sharing our lives on and off line ever since!

What makes this whole experience mean so much more is that Amy has had some health issues this fall and hasn't felt good most of the time. But you would never know it. She is cheerful and witty and keeps us laughing (do a search for llamas on Splitcoaststampers and you'll see what I mean). I just adore her!

Thank you, Amy, for a most awesome job as my Secret Elf!

And guess what? I was Amy's secret elf!

If you would like to see what I was busy doing for Amy, please check out her blog here.

We've had so much fun doing the secret elf that we're looking for an excuse to do something similar again. Probably around Valentine's Day. Stay tuned.......

Secret Elf Days 8, 9, 10 and 11!

I really apologize to my Secret Elf. I should have found time to post and show all these great goodies sooner. I've just been having some jam-packed days and can't seem to fit it all in. I love each and every thing that my Secret Elf has given me!

So let's start:

DAY 8
This day my Secret Elf gifted me my favorite peppermints. These are the kind that melt in your mouth! In a very cute bucket!




DAY 9
Saturday was one of the most stressful days of the season for me. How would I ever have made it thru without chocolate? And not just any chocolate - Nuggets! Just what got me thru this day. I love the tin, and especially the paper my Elf used to cover it.



DAY 10
Wow! I have never seen anything like these flowers! Huge! They are absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to have the time to put these to use.




Day 11
My gift today just put a smile on my face. It's a gray day outside, and I love the colors of this embellishment kit! Bright yellows and oranges. How does my Elf know my favorite colors?????


I am so excited to find out who my secret elf is tomorrow. I have a few ideas, but can't narrow it down, yet. BUT I am also sad that there will be no more Secret Elf after tomorrow. This has been such a fun thing to do. I think all of us mad Swappers are game for another round on another holiday. Can't wait to see what we do next!

Days 5, 6 and 7

What am I going to do after day 12 and there are no more fun things to show you?

Every day since I started opening my Secret Elf gifts, I have had a smile 'in my heart.' If I'm not always smiling on my face, there is still that happy place very close to the surface.

Day 5 my Secret Elf brought to me a great body scrub and fun washcloth to go with it. Smells like chocolate. Divine!



Day 6 my Secret Elf must have special powers, 'cause she looked deep in my heart and found one of my secret wishes. It's a small thing, but I was gifted a whole spool of double stitched Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon. This ribbon has been on my wish list for a while, but it always gets pushed off my orders, making room for other priorities. I LOVE this ribbon - Chocolate Chip is one of my favorite colors. It matches the color of my eyes!




And finally, Day 7. (BTW - a special thanks to Amy for showing me how to manipulate pictures on my blog - if only it were so easy to manipulate my kids LOL!)



When I opened my gift this morning, I almost cried. I KNOW for a fact now that my Secret Elf has been looking in my windows! Music is a major part of my life. I have been singing and playing the piano forever. This tile she made really symbolizes that.

I hope my Secret Elf understands how much I love her and love her sweet gifts of the past 7 days!

December Hostess Group

I really had a great time with my hostess group this month. We made some fun stuff! If you've never decorated a pop-top can and filled it, you're missing out! This is one of my favorite out-of-the-ordinary gifts to give. Take a safety can opener (you can find them at Wal*Mart for a few dollars. These are the can openers that take the whole lid off the can) and take off the bottom of the can. Fill with any goodies of your choice - trinkets or candies. We used Reeses p-nut butter cups. Stampin Up!'s Crystal Effects is my glue of choice to glue the lid back on the can, but you can also use E-6000 or any other strong adhesive that will hold the can together.

Then, I make the 'bottom' of the can the top of the can. Decorate - as I did here with a circle cut with a circle cutter and a snowflake. Wrap paper around the can and embellish as desired.

Here is a tutorial on the pop-top can, but again, I don't use the 'pop-top- as the top of the can, I use it as the bottom.










Our next project was an acetate box. I've never made these before, but they are so simple and cute, I think there will be many more in my future. I totally CASE'd (copy and share everything!) this design from the very talented Mellisa Sauls. Her blog is one of my fave's!

The box is really easy. Cut a piece of acetate (which you can get at office supply stores - I went to the printing service desk and ask for acetate like they used for catalog covers) 8 1/4 inches by 4 1/4 inches. Score at 2, 4, 6 and 8 inches. Use your bone folder to crease along the score marks. Put sticky strip on the 1/4 inch tab that's left and stick your box together.

For the top of the box I used a piece of card stock sized at 4 1/2 inches square. Score at 1 1/4 inches all the way around. Use the scallop edge punch all the way around. Make a snip on one of the corner score lines so you can fold it into the box shape for the lid. Add DSP and tags as desired.

For the bottom of the box, use a piece of card stock sized at 4 inches square. Score at 1 inch all the way around. Snip and assemble.


I really love this next card. Easy Peasy, but oh so elegant.

I can't show you the last project we made, yet, because I sent it to someone special - I'm a secret elf for someone in my group. And if I posted the picture, she would immediately know who I am. When it's all said and done, I'll point you to a blog where you can see what I have been up to this month.

Secret Elf Days 2, 3, 4

One thing that drives me crazy on Blogger is that I can never tell what it's going to do with my pictures - or how to get them where I want them! Oh well. We'll start with Day 4 and go backwards! I was THRILLED to see these cute little tags this morning. I think I am the only one in Stampin' Up!'s demo land that doesn't have this stamp set. Nor have I had time to make any tags, etc. These will be well loved and well used this season.

I also LOVE the fabric that my secret elf used to make these gift bags. I have wheels churning with ideas to use the fabric.




Here's Day 3


I just can't tell you how exciting it is to know that there is going to be a 'little something' waiting for me every day! How could someone know just what would be so perfect???? I have wanted these designer brads - but they always gets pushed down to the bottom of my list! And to see it in real life is so much better! AND I got some of each kind! WOW!!!! Thank you, secret elf!



Day 2



I had to get up early Saturday morning and head out to a Christmas Choir practice. #1, I am NOT an early morning person. #2, I was grumpy. T-h-e-n I remembered that there was something waiting for me. And not only was there 'something', but it was CHOCOLATE! There was no better way to start this day. Yummy, yummy! One of the chocolates was called Almond and Caramel. It was one of the most decadent things I have ever tasted. Good thing there was only one LOL!

Secret Elf Day 1

My dear swap-a-holic friends and I are doing a 12 Days of Christmas. Names were drawn and we sent out packages with fun stuff for the 12 Days.

My package arrived many days ago, but I was a GOOD girl and didn't peek! I'm so glad, 'cause now the surprises are so much better!

Here's my day 1 surprise - a beautiful ornament. Music is one of my loves in life, so this ornament really is meaningful.

THANK YOU SECRET ELF!

Lookee what I made!

So, yesterday afternoon I was teaching piano lessons to my friend's children. My friend told me that she was looking for a cute idea to cover a big candy bar. She had 8 of them that she needed to cover as a thank you for some friends. I had just seen this really cute idea over on Dawn Griffith's blog. I knew my friend was stressed for time, so I took the candy bars and played around with Dawn's idea and although it is almost identical, I like the red ribbon on the bottom. Easy Peasy!

(Dawn was covering small candy bars, and I used one of the large bars - you know, the ones that cost over $1.00 usually)

I used the 1 3/4" punch for the white of the eyes (punch an extra one and cut it in half for the eyelids). Use the 1" punch for the black part. The nose is 1 1/4" punch cut in half. I used the 1/2" punch for the mouth. The hat is a piece of black card stock cut at 5" X 3 1/4". To form the top of the hat, cut away 1 3/4" X 1" on the sides of the hat. Draw white lines on the hat, middle of the flowers and on the eyes. The flowers on the hat are also a punch, punched out of Real Red card stock from Stampin' Up! The ribbon is Real Red Grosgrain.