Moving towards Christmas

Here's my take on the kraft wrapping. I used tissue paper and an adhesive strip to make the ruffle.

Yesterday, I finished the last of my cookie baking for gifts. These are Peanut Cookies (great-Aunt Peg's recipe) on the plate, and you can see Mocha Truffles cooling in the background.

Peanut Cookies

1 ¼ c. brown sugar

1 c. sugar

½ tsp. salt

½ lb. soft  butter (2 sticks)

¾ c. crunchy peanut butter

2 eggs

½ tsp. baking soda

2 c. flour

1 c. chocolate chips

1 c. salted cocktail peanuts

Mix sugar, salt, butter & peanut butter together. Beat eggs into mixture until light & fluffy. Sift flour & baking soda together. Gradually blend into sugar mixture. Stir in chocolate chips & peanuts. Drop from spoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 min. in 350 oven until light brown. Cool on rack.

Our mini tree

And one last cookie recipe from the other side of the family. Grandma Louis's Molasses Krinkles.

Molasses Krinkles

(or Fork Cookies)

¾ c. vegetable shortening

1 c. brown sugar, packed

1 egg

4 Tbsp. molasses

Sift together:

2 ¼ c. flour

½ tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. cloves

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

Cream shortening & sugar, then add egg & molasses. Sift dry ingredients together in separate bowl. Add gradually to wet ingredients . Chill for an hour. On ungreased cookie sheets: shape into balls, dip in granulated sugar, cross with fork. Bake 12-15 min. in 350 oven.

8 Techniques for Gift Wrapping with Kraft

Today on Cosmo Cricket's Blog! Love, love these ideas! I have some beige/natural colored tissue paper I could definitely use to make some coordinating ruffles.

8 Techniques for Gift Wrapping with Kraft

p.s. a Gluber Strip is apparently a very large adhesive strip offered through Cosmo Cricket.

Braided Scarf with The Scrap Shoppe

 Good morning everybody ~ I've had a Christmas kinda weekend, baking cookies & making cards. It was cool and rainy, so a great way to spend the day.

 This link is to an excellent braided scarf tutorial from Michelle at The Scrap Shoppe. I used this to make some quick gifts last year. It's easy to follow, and if you're a crafter, you probably have everything you need on hand. I get compliments whenever I wear mine!

Braided Scarf with The Scrap Shoppe

Quick holiday gift to make

Rustic wrap label for gift soap

Here's a quick, easy to throw together last minute holiday gift!

What you need:

1) Scented bar soap (I'm using Mom's request of lavender)
2) Kraft paper strips  (I actually used postal roll package paper)
3) A longer, narrow stamp with a repeating pattern
4) Coordinating ink
5) Stickles to embellish

What to do:

1) Cut Kraft paper strips to fit your soap, allowing for overlapping ends. My strips were about 2.25 x 6 inches. Test wrap one and trim down if necessary. Once you have your size set, cut out your remaining strips.
2) Ink up your stamp and apply to Kraft paper strips. My stamp was long enough that 1 impression covered the entire strip, so it went very quickly.
3) When the ink has dried, wrap the label around the soap, using adhesive to secure the overlapping edge.
4) Embellish with stickles
5) When labels are totally dried, finish with a bit of raffia and/or ribbon, set in a basket or box with a cute tag and your gift is ready to go!


My stamped detail with  Tim Holtz Dusty Concord distress ink, Starry Night and Frosty Lace stickle accents.

And the winner...

chosen randomly by the man is.... Marsha!
Congratulations! I will let you know when your package is mailed out.


Thanks for playing!

GIVEAWAY!! Scrapping embellishments

First, I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving & was able to spend time with family and friends. We went up north to his Mom's ~ good company and good food!

Now to the scraptastic giveaway! This features super cute items from the Sassafrass Lass Count collection.

The lucky winner will receive THIS.....

THESE.......
























and finally THIS

I think the colors and theme of these Basic Grey office tabs go well with "Count". And I'll probably throw a surprise in the winning envelope!

To be eligible for the giveaway you need to:

1) Sign up to follow my blog!

2) Leave a comment on this post about one of your favorite small businesses, whether local or on-line.
    Shop small business this Saturday 11/24/12!

One of my favorites is  Lagusta's Luscious located in New Paltz, NY
Vegan, organic, tasty & unusual things. I like the chocolate dipped blood oranges and the classic toffee.


There will be a quick turn around on this ~ winner will be randomly chosen and posted on Sunday. Good luck!

Don't forget....

...tonight's event at the Delaware Branch Library. We'll be meeting from 6 - 8 pm in the community meeting room, just off the library entrance. I have bookmarks and an autumn card project  (small fee for the card) to make. Memory Works catalogs and some products also available.

Please feel free to bring your own works in progress and enjoy some creative time with fellow crafters. Hope to see you!

Yesterday, headed up North to scrap with a small select group of friends! We meet up twice a year, rotating locations and hosting duties. I always have a fun time and it's a great way to get those creative juices going and catch up with everyone.

It all started several years ago when Karin and Penny drove down to attend a Scrapping Expo that was supposed to also have cropping space. We were informed at check in that there were no spaces to be had. It was just vendors and shopping. Kathleen offered up her home as an impromptu crop space and a tradition was born!

An attentive scrapping mascot is a must at our sessions. Apache did a marvelous job.

Penny made these amazing labels for wee chocolate bars and brought the snacks to share. All I brought was a loaf of Italian bread to go with lunch....

Here are 2 samples of cards we'll be making, using the Harvest Lane collection from Simple Stories. Come join us at Delaware branch library, Wed., Nov. 14th, 6-8 pm

A lovely afternoon

Last Sunday, I was out taking foliage pictures and came across this red-tailed hawk near the river. I used part of the Harvest Lane collection by Simple Stories for this layout.

Cosmo Cricket is doing an Art Angel give away on their blog today! Comment to enter, winner announced this Friday.

Sneak peek!

Here's a sneak peek of one of the projects we'll be making at the Scrapping Tales scrapbook social next month. If you love owls (and who doesn't?) you'll love making this fun bookmark.

We'll be meeting November 14th at the Delaware branch library in Albany from 6-8 pm.

Love your local crafter and small business friends this holiday season.

I didn't expect to be away from the blog this long but I was preparing for the Fall Fair and Tucker was um...helping. So fixing all that took awhile, lol!

 

Back in a few days with our regularly scheduled scrappy stuff!

Fall Fair photos from Saturday, September 29th.

Finally, as promised, here is a link to the entire Memory Works 2012 Fall Catalog

Tonight we went out looking for pop up canopies. My spot at the Fall Fair spot is outside, so I'll need some cover. Finally settled on a 10 x 8 Quest easy set up model. We truly hope it is easy. The man wants to do a trial run in the yard. I'm just glad that detail is settled so I can focus on the crafts.

Here's a card using Authentique papers from the "Enchanted" collection ~ new & available from Memory Works. Jazzed up with blackboard crow from Cosmo Cricket, orange peel stickles and a bit of copper mesh for texture. Wicked Stamp from Close to My Heart.

Putting together some of these fun Halloween door hangers for the Fall Fair. Local people, come down to Grace United Methodist Church in Ravena on Sat., Sept. 29th for the fair!

New Memory Works catalog is out!

This past Thursday I was fortunate enough to be invited to participate in a card party for Operation Write Home at a local scrapbook store Captured Moments  I was a busy bee and spent a few hours socializing and making cards for this worthy cause.

Fall/Winter Catalog

The fall/winter  Memory-Works catalog should be ready within the next few days. I've seen the PDF of the finished product and there are some beautiful products available!

Festive Dessert Topper!

I was inspired by a friend on scrapbook.com who recently made a cute cake topper. I decided to try my hand at one, since I've got some fall entertaining in the very near future.

I ended up doing a fan shape, rather than a full circle, because my paper was on the thicker side and didn't want to flex very much. Since I was going for an autumn theme, I used some old favorites from my stash. The fan is made from Cosmo Cricket's Gretal collection, while the circle portion is from the Daisy D (oh how I miss them!) Heirloom Attic collection. Inkadoo stamps, Hero alphabet stamps, Close to My Heart inks. Added some gold curling ribbon and misc snippet of ribbon (Cosmo Cricket?) to the skewer.

Here it is displayed on a lovely baby apple crisp (recipe from the Small Batch Baking cookbook) that I made for dessert. My scrapping bud is coming over this afternoon for Scrappy Saturday, and who better to appreciate my efforts that a fellow scrapper?! Have a scrappy weekend!

Alter a folder

I decided to alter a folder to hold some stationary
I made for one of my sisters. This will be a Christmas gift.

The first thing I did was remove those little dimples from the Fancy Pants floral bracket (Kraft Kuts) paper that I decided to use. Hate those dimples...

Then I got out several small critter stamps and some ink. I stamped around the floral border
 and also into the "sky". 

With the help of my trusty Sharpies, I added some doodling and attached the whole thing to the folder with liquid adhesive. Voila! Fun with kraft paper!

Hi there!

We'll be talking about scrappy things in the near future. Specifically, my current obsession with kraft paper! Check back over the weekend.