Long time coming

Hi everyone!  Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday.  

I have been busy, busy the last month.  I thought I ordered an elf to come help me during December but he never arrived!  I have had a fabulous time preparing this year and had a Very Merry Christmas.  I am thankful to be blessed with such great family & friends.  

Like everyone else, I had shopping, wrapping & decorating to do on top of endless commitments but I did manage to craft by making cards, tasty treats & calendars for the family. 

The first picture I would like to share is a little snowman treat wrapper I found from Laurie Furnell.  I downloaded her image and used a great tutorial from Kerry's Paper Crafts for the rest.  We made these for Sophie's class party along with a card.  Her teacher had spent the week instilling the idea that this is the season of giving so to reinforce the point we donated our finished product to the nursing home to be handed out to the residents. 

For my Christmas cards I used the Papertrey Ink sets Signature Christmas, Snowfall Additions, Snowflake Serenade & Vintage Ornaments Additions.  

I tried to keep these simple to mass produce.  I added the sparkle with stickles and drew in the black outline.

I mixed up the colors between red & green.  I wasn't sure about the green on green but I like the way the red in the center makes it pop.  The ornaments were cut using Papertrey Ink Vintage Ornament Collection.

The last card was more whimsical than the first two.  The polka dot paper was punched using a Marvy Uchida Snowflake punch.  This one turned out to be my favorite. 

After all the card making was complete I moved on to treats.  We did make cookies but what I liked best were the Caramel Vanilla Rice Krispy Treats.  Some were plain and some were dipped in chocolate.  These are sooo yummy!

I followed the old rice krispy recipe substituting Jet-Puffed Caramel Vanilla Swirl Mallows.

1/4 c. melted butter

10oz. package mallows

5 c. rice krispies

melt butter, add mallows and melt on low

when melted remove from heat and stir in rice krispies quickly

spread in greased 9x13 pan

Tips:

Use greased spoon to mix.

Line pan with parchment paper to prevent sticking.

Lightly wet hands with cold water and even out mixture in the pan.  It will not stick to you with the water.

I leave you with a picture of my heart.  This was taking at Breakfast with Santa.  Notice the new earrings!  She finally found the courage to get them pierced. 

Hope you found some inspiration here.

Thanks for stopping by ~ Rebecca

Craft day - whoot!

Finally a day to spend crafting with "the girls"!  It has been way to long but life does have a way of interfering with my hobby - lol.  This weekend I spent time making some Christmas tags and it was just what the doctor ordered.

I used PTI Tag Sale 1 die to cut the shape and then stamped off SU Sage Shadow with the medium snowflake from PTI Snowfall Additions set designed by Heather Nichols whose work I adore.  The sentiment in in Versafine black from the same set. 

Snowfall Additions also coordinates with the Marvy Uchida punch which I used to make my snowflakes.  They are cut from SU designer series paper Wintergreen.  The buttons come from PTI Holiday Mix and are tied with Rustic Cream Button Twine (BTW - love this stuff! Thin enough to go through the hole and flexible enough to tie nicely).

On the back I added a sentiment from Signature Christmas and left room for "to & from".  I'll add some pretty ribbon when I box everything up.

Hope you are inspired & thanks for stopping by!

~Rebecca

Pallenge 16

First let me say that I am soooo behind on my challenge - sorry Kay!  This pallenge was to use a series of inspiration photos to guide our creativity. 

I was taken by the peacock feathers and ran with it.  This is a pocket card that has sentiment on the inside front and ...

a gift card slot on the back.

Thanks for stopping by ~ Rebecca

Another birthday card.  I told you September was a busy birthday month in our family (or maybe it was January that was a busy month :)  LOL!  For this card, I played along with Sketch Saturday week 120 challenge. 

I decided to go with a fall theme.  I chose a burnt orange color for the base and then found a stripe scrap that coordinated well. The thin strip in the middle is Core'dinations paper that was sanded to give a distressed feel.  I really like this card stock.  I think it's neat how sanding brings the back color forward.

The leaves were cut with PTI dies, stamped with Leaf Prints and then sprayed with Glimmer Mist.  I held them in place with a mini clothes pin covered with some of the Core'dination paper and topped off with a button.  I am loving those little pins.  They are so fun!

I made a double button embellishment for the bottom right.  The little one fit perfectly in the dip of the larger one and I tied them together with Rustic Cream Button Twine.

This was a fun challenge to play along with.  I don't make many square cards but this has encouraged me to try some new shapes.  Hope you all are inspired!

Thanks for stopping by ~ Rebecca

Pallenge15 & 2 Sketches 4 You 61

September is a busy birthday month in this household so I have been forced "wink" to make a bunch of cards.  I have another one to share today.  I followed Papertrey Pals 15 for my color scheme: Plum Pudding, Melon Berry, Hawaiian Shores & Simply Chartreuse. The layout is from 2 Sketches 4 You.

I decided to make a business size card which is unusual for me but I loved the size!  I started with a Mellon Berry base versamarked with PTI Tin Types.  The next layer was a cream scrap that I sprayed with Glimmer Mist copper and then added the chartreuse ribbon.

I chose a sentiment from PTI Signature Greetings and I used their Beautiful Blooms II stamps & dies to create the flowers.  The bottom looked a little bare so I added the multi-colored yarn for some more dimension.

In the top corner I punched a little dragon fly and embellished it with a Sakura gel pen.

I know this is silly but my favorite part of the card is the bow.  I have a drawer full of ribbon that I never use because my bows don't turn out.  I found a tutorial by Dawn McVey and it was quite helpful. 

Thanks for stopping by ~ Rebecca

Paper Piecing Challenge

I am going to be brutally honest with this post.  I saw the Embellish Magazine Paper Piecing challenge and thought to myself . . . this is not for me.  I just don't have the time this weekend for tedious cutting and pasting.  Then, lo and behold, Sophie needed a boy birthday card and the theme was camo! Funny how things work out.

I started with an olive green textured base and then free hand cut different shades of green from the scrap box.  I used Spellbinder Label 1 dies for the sentiment stamped with SU Always Artichoke and Alphabet Soup.  Adding the brass snaps seemed to be a great military finishing touch.  (btw it was also my bit of yellow)  Sophie really liked the stamp I chose.  She said the Happy Birthday was camouflaged just like the card.  Gotta love the stuff that girl comes up with!

Much to my surprise, this was a FUN card to make.  I really enjoyed cutting all the shapes and fitting them together.  It was like doing a puzzle.  Thank You Embellish Mag for the challenge!  If I hadn't seen it, I don't think I would have know what to do about the camo theme - lol.

Thanks for stopping by ~ MamaReebs

Sympathy card

 I needed to make some sympathy cards so I decided to incorporate two challenges to help motivate me to get them done.  

I followed Card Patterns sketch 80 & Ted's Gold Challenge at Happily Ever Crafter.

I used three PTI sets on this card - Damask Designs, Leaf Prints & With Sympathy. 

The label was cut using Spellbinders Label 1 and the gold was colored on the edge with a Krylon gold leafing pen.  I double stamps the image behind the words with SU baroque burgundy topped with Brilliance galaxy gold.  The leaves were cut using PTI leaf dies and also double stamped to add sparkle.

Thanks for stopping by ~ Rebecca

Embellish Magazine color squares challenge

Diane & Nerina have both played along with this Embellish Magazine.com challenge and I thought it looked like fun.

I used a green gift bag that we can use to "BOO" this Halloween.  Some of the paper was bought at Archiver's last year.  The spooky saying is from Studio G and all the other stamped images came from PTI Tiny Treats Halloween.

I used stickles to add sparkle to the spider, skull & label.

Hope you are inspired!

Thanks for stopping ~ MamaReebs

CPS 182

Hi all.  Hope everyone is having a fantastic Labor Day weekend!  I have managed to squeeze in a bit a crafting but haven't been able to post in time to meet challenge deadlines.  I made a Halloween card using the CPS182 sketch below.

 I used my new PTI Tiny Treats - Halloween set.  It was so much fun to play with.  I had a hard time deciding which image to use but decided on the cute little ghost. 

I used black for the base but topped it with some white raffia that I straightened out.   I really like the dimension it gives.  I added just a bit a sparkle with some prism glitter in a few spots.

Thanks for stopping by ~ MamaReebs

Double Duty

Good Morning all.  Have a card to post that was supposed to do double duty for the Papertrey Pals Pallenge and the Waltzingmouse sketch challenge  below but my camera wouldn't cooperate last night so now it is single duty - lol  

(btw I saw this sketch at Diane's blog and she made a beautiful card that you should check out!)

The Pallenge requirements are to use only PRIMARY colors on  your card.  You could use some black or white but not as a focal point.  Wow Ted, talk about a tough challenge :)

Here is my take - please disregard the shadows.

Since we were using primary colors, I decided to make a school themed card.  The red background is embossed with the Swiss Dots folder.  The blue is cut with Papertrey Ink Mat stack 4 die. 

For the sentiment and apple, I used Papertrey Ink's Teacher Apple & Signature Greetings stamp sets.  I like how the yellow ribbon pops the blue off the card.

Around the edges, I brushed SU craft white for some added effect.  I also used Sakura gel sparkle for dimension on the apple.

Hope everyone has a great LONG weekend full of fun!

Thanks for stopping by ~ MamaReebs

Thank You Blog Hop

Surprise!  Tonight is a surprise "Thank You" blog hop in honor of Nicole and all the PTI employees that work hard to make Papertrey Ink  such a loved company.  Nicole's blog, and for that matter all the team members blogs, give me daily inspiration to be a better artist.  The company offers such great design elements that you can't help but be creative when your package arrives at the door. 
To all of you - Thanks for what you do!

For this card I used the anniversary set Round & Round for the main image.  I cut the chocolate brown color using  the Mat stack 2 die and stamped it with Background Basics Woodgrain.

I used buttons from the holiday vintage mix paired with some twine to pull it all together.  The bottom is versamarked with dots from Round & Round to help draw your eye down past the simply said Thank You. I don't usually make CAS cards but I really like how this turned out
(although it was hard to not add any bling :)

So, to Nicole and crew I want to say a big Thank You for all your hard work and inspiration! .

Hope you enjoyed the card and thanks for stopping by ~ MamaReebs

It's Blog Hop Time

It's the 25th and the PTI Blog hop is here again - YEAH!  

The challenge is as follows:

In honor of school going back into session everywhere, we thought it would be fun to issue a Brown Bag
Challenge.  We want to see what you can do to dress up, alter, change an ordinary brown lunch bag into
a paper crafting work of art.  

I have been thinking about this challenge since it was posted.  I had everything planned in my head and couldn't wait to find time to play.  I was very excited about creating this project until I sat down to work on it and realized I didn't have any lunch bags! LOL!!  So my ideas got put on the back burner and I improvised.

I found a pack of colored paper gift bags that are the size of a lunch bag and went from there.   I decided to make a teacher gift for the first day of school.  I used the Home Made stamp set to create my windows and door.  I added some depth to the door with the awesome Background Basics Woodgrain.  I just got this set and I all ready love it.  

Thanks for "hoppin" by ~ MamaReebs

70th Birthday & Pallenge 13

Today I am going to share a Birthday card I made in celebration of my dad's 70th Birthday that plays along with  Pallenge 13 that has been issued by Cindy over at the Papertrey Pals blog.  She challenged us to use a set that we have never inked up.  Awhile ago I bought a Papertrey set called Top Ten that has never been used so I dusted off the cob webs and went to town.

Here is the card laid out before I started adhering anything to the base. 

Even though I  used a masculine color scheme, I managed to add some fun patterns and sparkle.

For the background I used PTI Tin Types.  I struggled to find an ink that matched the tan in the ribbon until I tried my tea dye duo and chamomile was a great match.

The inside listed 10 of the great characteristic my dad possess.  I backed them with a piece of handmade paper with  a ruff edge.

To celebrate his day we all met for dinner at a great Chinese place.  In honor, Sophie wore a dress that Aunt Megan gave her as a souvenir from her last trip to China.  I think my dad got a kick out of it & the waitresses all did too. 

Thanks for stopping by ~ MamaReebs