12 Days of Christmas Ornie and Book

Once again I was fortunate to participate in a 12 Days of Christmas giftie swap and also new this year a 12 Days of Christmas book mingle. Here are my contributions:

The ornie I made was created from repurposed Pageant Numbers I found at a yard sale. I thought the lovely shade of green was perfect fro Christmas!  I distressed them down with brown ink and brushed on some diluted glue and glitter for a bit of sparkle. The Santa images were repurposed from old Christmas Cards. The centers were vintage dictionary pages with a satin red ribbon for trim! I was happy with how they turned out. I may make more for next years tree! :)

Don't they look cool on DH's hanging poinsettia baskets out by the pool??

For the mingle we were to make a tall skinny book with our interpretation of the song the 12 Days of Christmas. I took the traditional approach to the song. I made black sillhouettes of each days icons and used co-ordinating papers, snoflakes and some bling for mine.

New Christmas ART to share....

I have been working on finishing up some Christmas ART for our home and for some swaps. I have 2 that I can share today.

I have wanted to make these glittered cones for awhile now. Since we've moved to this house I now have a fireplace mantle on which to display them! I think I need to get an intermediate sized silver one yet, but it's still early, right?  All I did was brush a water/glue mixture on the cones and liberally coat them with Martha's glitter. One piece of advice....don't be impatient and try to do the whole cone at one.....yeah, let's just says fingerprint marks with no glitter left behind....not pretty! Ugh!  I found that by doing the bottoms and about  3-4 inches up the base of the cone worked best. I inverted them into plastic drinking glasses to dry. Now you have a firm base to hold while you glitter and glue the tops! :)

The second project was for a make 2 ornies swap. I have been struggling with this one....just wanted something not traditional and not paper. Hmmmm....so when I was rummaging through the Christmas ART supplies box I discovered a few mini lunch boxes I bought on Christmas Clearance. They had this ugly scene from some movie on them......yuck. So, I had to rid myself of the awful graphics and blue paint. I colored them with a Krylon gold and silver leaf pens. I glued some Christmas images to the fronts and backs. Sprinkled on a glittery border and let dry. I added a paper strip and a rick rack embellishment to the outside edges. I glued coordinating sequins to the front and added a sparkly hanger. Now, don't you think they look much more appealing?  :::Smiles::: I do!

Holiday Recipe Cards Swap

I am participating in a Holiday Cookie Recipe Card Swap. I was to make  a recipe card with a fave cookie and send to 3 people. Well, apparently, silly me read make 3 recipe cards and send to 3 people. LOL  Better more cookies than less, right? SO here are my 3 recipe cards.

 #1 is my Great Grandma's Molasses Cookies.....wouldn't be Christmas without them for our family.

#2 is my always requested White Chocolate Macadamia Temptations Cookies....soooo good.

 #3 is a favorite from a friend for Scrumptious Peanut Butter Cookie Pop.....fun AND delicious.

  

Here is the coordinating envie I made for them! Anywho....enjoy.

My Skinny Christmas Book

When I was making my skinny book pages for a swap recently, I made an extra set of bases. Last night I put them together for a book. I'm not sure who will be receiving this book this year (or if it will be staying with me :::smiles:::). I have to bind it yet, but thought I would share the pages with you. I love having a bind-it-all now!! :) The pages are 3" x 6". Each pages has a glittered letter that spells out C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S. Enjoy!! Please click on the pages to appreciate them!!

Back side of the letter pages

Inside covers pages

Back Cover

ART Quilties to share

I am doing a 2 quiltie mingle with 2 wonderful ART friends: Penny and Wanda. I wasn't really sure where I wanted to begin for the longest time. Then I found these 2 smallish embroidery patterns and "knew" I had found my starting point. :) I LOVE the look of Redwork and would someday like to make a redwork quilt. But for now, I have made a mini redwork (and bluework) quiltie. It is satisfying to be able to complete a project in a short time.

I did both embroidery pieces one night while on the couch "listening" to TV. I know you can relate to not "watching" TV, but "listening." Most ART friends I have are like me and unable to just sit and stare at the lighted box of mindless entertainment. It's just not enough for me.....my hands need to play too!! :::Smiles:::

I kept them simple and really like how they turned out. I like that some of the edges aren't perfect and a bit frayed. It gives them a story. Anywho, just sharing.

More new ART to share....

I have been having fun with a couple of past charms swaps, so I signed up for another one. This time I only had to make 8 charms. I have been wanting to play with Shrink Plastic again so that is what I chose as my medium.
I recently acquired some new, retired Stampin' Up sets. I thought this lovely lady would make a graceful charm and I believe she did. She is from the Days Gone By stamp set. I stamped her with Jet Black Stazon Ink on the front. On the back side I colored her in with my water color pencils. I used a corner rounder to soften the edges, punched a hole for the jump ring and let the shrinking process commence!! :::Smiles::: I'm still a kid at heart.....no matter how many times I use Shrink Plastic....it still amuses me greatly!! When the charms were cool I edged them with a black sharpie, added a jump ring, a beaded eye pin and another jump ring. I attached them to a Moo card made using DCWV Le Creme paper.

The other project I finished up today is for a mingle. We were given a stocking pattern and the challenge was to make it from a brown grocery bag. I actually chose brown mailing paper as I had several rolls in the studio. I cut out the brown stockings and used Spray Mount to attach them to the printed scrapbook papers. I cut them out again and used my Mat Pack from Stampin' Up and a needle tool to punch holes around the stockings. I stitched them up with embroidery floss, added some embellishments to the cuffs and added a little sparkle with my gel pens. The stockings are to be given empty for the recipients to use as gifties themselves.

That's what is new in my neck of the woods. Thanks for stopping by!!
Oh, I forgot....these guys were hanging out and posing while I was shooting my others pics today. I guess they wanted to be famous too!! LOL

Halloween Cat Iris Fold card and more...

...doodads for the Christmas paper bag book to share. Yippee....the book is done (well except for a few personal items I'll be adding for the recipient once I know who it is!). I am very happy to have that checked off my list!! :)

I stamped a bunch of images in coordinating colors and popped them into little bags. They will go in the 'pockets' of the bags.

For the actual bag sections I made the mini composition book shared previously and I found the cutest tiny bag of mini jingle bells. My third addition is a microscope slide I made with blue glass glitter.

I also had to make a card for a monthly lottery with the theme cats. So, I had this Iris Fold pattern I hadn't tried out yet, so I thought it was the perfect time. After I finished the cat I masked him off and used my Versamark pen to draw in the moon. I then covered the moon with interference gold Pearl Ex and outlined it with a Clear Glaze Pen. The background was water colored with my Peerless Water Colors. The fence is a Sizzix die cut from wood grained paper.

The custom envie is scrapbook paper and a clear sticker.

Just sharing what I did with my Sunday!!