:-(

I have a project to post today, but I didn't have time to take a photo this morning because my hubby invited me out to eat with him :-). Now I am at the rink blogging from my new laptop while my daughter is doing public skate. We are here early today because the skate team is doing a performance at the end of the public session and then, she has regular practice. We will be here a total of six hours today- yeah for the laptop!!!! I will get a photo tonight or tomorrow morning and get it posted, so please check back :-). Talk to you soon!

Blessings!
Barb

The New Petal Cone Die

Just a few more days and the brand new Occasions Mini for 2011 goes live- whoo hoo! Lots of cute stuff in it! (Drum roll please...) Introducing one of the new dies in the Occasions Mini- the brand new Petal Cone die- taaa daaa! Isn't it sweet? Can you imagine the possibilities with this?!!

I used Pirouette Pink to die cut my cone. The scalloped edge and the little banner in Very Vanilla that you see are part of the die- cool, huh? You can fold in the top flaps of the cone the same way you would fold in the flaps on the retired Petal Card die and the new Petal Card punch. If you add the scalloped edge though, you won't be able to fold the flaps inside the cone, but doesn't it look pretty on the outside :-) ? 

This was the project that I started a couple of days ago and I just finished it. Instead of moving on to my next project, I grabbed my camera so I could post it for you :D.

I hope you are all rested up after the holiday season! I've been having a shoulder issue for the last two days, but I think I am rested up now :-). Wishing you all a wonderful day today!

Blessings!

Barb

Supplies:

Stamps: Filled with Love- 121154 (from the Holiday mini 2010- better grab it before January 3rd), Teeny Tiny Wishes-115370

Paper: Pink Pirouette-111351, Very Vanilla-101650, Daffodil Delight-119683, Certainly Celery-105125

Classic Stampin' Ink: Pink Pirouette-111838, Cherry Cobbler-119669

Punches: Oval Large-119855, Scallop Oval- 119856, Heart to Heart- 119881, Flower Trio (retired), 1/8" circle (not Stampin' Up!)

Dies: Petal Cone-121810

Other: Real Red 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon-109034

White Christmas

Did I ever mention that I LOVE winter at our house when it snows? We were blessed to have a lovely white Christmas this year! The day after Christmas I went out with my camera to capture some of the beauty before it all melts away. The shot below is from our west pasture. The trees all over the farm were covered with beautiful white snow crystals, making it all look like a winter wonderland. You can get completely lost in the beauty of it all. 

My hubby decided to take a vacation this week and he hardly ever takes a vacation. What a nice surprise for us- we get to spend lots of time with him! I did work on one little project yesterday, so just have to finish it up and I can post it ;-). I'm really working on it Kim, lol! 

Hugs and Blessings!

Barb

Update

OK, I didn't get to my stamp room yesterday- I was worn out from Christmas! I decided to just sit around and do nothing.. well, actually, I spent the day watching movies with my hubby and our daughter :-). Today, I have cleaning to do- I just didn't have it in me to do the cleaning from Christmas day yesterday (gasp!), so I have to do it today. Hopefully, I will get it done rather quickly and then I have to clean my stamp room. You do not want to see my stamp room, it looks like a tornado hit it! I will be posting this week though- I do deserve some days to just stamp after all the work of the holidays right? :-)

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!! See you soon!

Blessings!
Barb   PS- I got a laptop from my hubby for Christmas and I had no idea that my blog looked so funky! It looks completely different on my desktop monitor- probably because it's square. Hopefully, I can fix that when I change to my winter layout :-)

Merry Christmas!!

I will be missing from my blog for a few days. My daughter and I are sick- again :-(. Apparently, we caught this from her coach- who is also sick- again. He was sick a couple of weeks ago and so were we. He thought he was over it and we thought we were over it. My daughter and I started off with scratchy throats last night and this morning- ick- sick! Another reason I will be missing from my blog is because I have soooooo much to do in the next three days. I don't even want to look at my to do list at this point, although mentally, that big list keeps playing over and over in my mind. Hopefully, I get it all done. I will be doing it whether I feel icky or not, so I hope I feel better tomorrow! In the meantime, I wanted to take a minute to thank all of you for visiting my blog this year. I have appreciated your visits so very much and all of your comments have made my day each time :-). I have also appreciated your patience when I have been so busy I haven't had time to see the walls of my stamping room, let alone keep my blog updated. So, for all of you, I am posting a Christmas card that I made just for my blog visitors. I wish each and every one of you the most blessed, joyous, and most memorable Christmas of all. 

I will see you after Christmas!!! I plan to LOCK MYSELF in my stamping room the day after Christmas for the whole day, so I should have some stuff to post next week! Merry Christmas my friends!!!

Hugs and Blessings to you!

Barb

Candy Wrapper Die

I finally got the Candy Wrapper die a couple of weeks ago and it's quickly become one of my favorite dies. I made a bunch of these for little hand outs during the Christmas Season. You can put chocolates in them or small gifts. I've been putting chocolate in mine :-). 

To make these, I die cut the Candy Wrapper and embossed just down the center of my die cut so that the ends are not embossed. After embossing them, I added some gold ink with a sponge dauber to make the embossing stand out. The gold really brings out the red and makes them look so rich. I stamped a sentiment and punched it out with the Small Oval punch and added a gold snowflake on a dimensional from the Northern Frost strip die. Tied the ends with gold cord and done!! Easy peasy...and fast! Thanks for stopping by today. I know everyone is busy- Christmas is almost here!!!! Have a wonderful day today!!

Blessings!

Barb

Supplies:

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes-115370

Card Stock: Cherry Cobbler-119685, Very Vanilla-101650

Ink: gold

Dies: Candy Wrapper-120890, Northern Frost-120901

Punches: Small Oval-119855

Jolly Holiday!

Good Morning everyone! Yesterday I made some little mini scrapbooks from the Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper. I LOVE the Jolly Holiday paper :D. I used the Scallop Square die to make the covers and the pages. I normally use acid/lignin free matboard for my covers. The matboard makes nice sturdy covers, but it's also archival quality. It's really easy to die cut the Designer Series Paper for the covers with the same die- no sanding, no fussing, a perfect fit :-).

 The first page as you open the book...

 I alternated the inside journaling/photo pages with Old Olive journaling lines/Cherry Cobbler photo mat....

 With Cherry Cobbler journaling lines/Old Olive photo mat. I stamped the little deer from the Winter Post stamp set (LOVE that set!!!) with Early Espresso ink on each journaling page.

To finish off the book, I tied two little jingle bells with gold crochet thread to one of the binding wires.These don't take long to make and they are great little brag books to haul around with you or make several with different themes and keep them in a basket on your coffee table. These are a good size for sharing your favorite photos with family and friends without taking up too much space. I hope you all had a wonderful week and that your Christmas To-Do lists are very small :D. Mine is still pretty big, but I'm checking stuff off my list one by one! Have a blessed day today!!!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: Winter Post-111780, Delightful Decorations-116517, Sentiments- from retired sets
Card Stock/Paper: Very Vanilla-101650, Cherry Cobbler119685, Old Olive-100702, More Mustard-100946, Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper- 117159
Classic Stampin' Ink: Early Espresso-119670, Old Olive-102277, Cajun Craze-119671, Cherry Cobbler-119669
Stampin' Write Markers: Old Olive-100079, Real Red-100052
Dies: Scallop Square Bigz Clear-115950
Punches: Modern Label-119849, Word Window-119857, 5-Petal Flower-119880, Ornament-119847
Other: Iridescent Ice embossing powder-101930, VersaMark pad-102283, Bind-it-all

Another Packaging Idea

I know other blogs are moving on to Valentine's Day, but I just can't quite bring myself to do Valentine's Day yet. Christmas isn't over yet :-). So, on that note, I just wanted to share another last minute packaging idea with you. I bake cookies like crazy in December and we always give them out to friends, well, of course, we keep some for us too ;-). My good friend Donna gave me the most awesome sugar cookie recipe last year when she came to visit and we baked Christmas cookies together. I am not kidding about the cookies. They are the lightest, tastiest sugar cookies ever! I usually put them in little tins that I purchase at the store for giving away. This year though, I thought they would look really cute in the Fancy Favor boxes.

Just add a little handle and you have a cute little box/basket! You can include a tag on the side for the recipient's name- great for personalizations! Have you gotten snow yet? I know some parts of the country have already gotten snow. Waving "hi" to Carol who has gotten snow already where she lives :D. Hope you are all staying warm and toasty!!!! Have a wonderful day today!

Blessings!

Barb

Supplies:

Card Stock: Marina Mist-119682, Cherry Cobbler-119685, Very Vanilla-101650, So Saffron-105118

Classic Stampin' Ink: Marina Mist-119668

Punches: Extra Large Oval-119859, Word Window-119857, Scallop Trim border-118402

Dies: Stars #2- 113461, Lots of Tags-114508, Fancy Favor- 115965, Northern Frost-120901

York Peppermint Patty Treats

I think there were many of us papercrafters who were really disappointed when The Hershey Company changed the packaging for York Peppermint Patties. We had this lovely little round peppermint patty covered in a 'fitted' foil wrapper that could be covered with a stamped Scalloped Circle punch for any holiday. I know that there is another company who is sticking with the fitted foil wrapper, but in my opinion, they just don't taste as good as a York (sorry other company) :D. Scallop Envelope die to the rescue!!!! I die cut two Scallop Envelopes in Pink Pirouette and trimmed the very bottom flap of the envelope so that the flap was 1/2" long. Punch a shape out of the top of the envelope for a little handle and glue the sides and the bottoms- viola! It holds two York Peppermint Patties in their 'new' packaging perfectly!

I'll be making these for my daughter to give out to her team mates this year. So glad they don't read my blog :D. Have a great day!!!!

Blessings!

Barb

Supplies:

Card Stock: Pink Pirouette-111351, Very Vanilla-101650

Classic Stampin' Ink: Real Red-103133

Punches: Word Window-119857

Dies: Northern Frost-120901

Other: gold brad-104337

Place Setting Card

This one is kind of a re-run. Recently, I posted some place setting cards that I made for my Christmas table. There were two- one with a poinsettia and one with a snowflake. The snowflake one was done in Bashful Blue, Marina Mist, and Very Vanilla. JoAnne's was having a Wilton baking supplies sale last week and I found these cute snowman paper plates with matching napkins. Since our children spend the night on Christmas Eve each year, we always have snacking food out- beef summer sausauge, cheese slices, crackers, veggie trays, punch, home made cookies and candy, etc. To go with the cute paper plates I found, I just changed the color of the name holder on the card :D. Instead of using Bashful Blue, I used Cherry Cobbler instead.

Cherry Cobbler and Marina Mist are an amazing little match for these snowman paper plates. I got the paper plates and napkins for 60% off! :D Aren't they cute?

Have a wonderful day today! I hope you are staying warm and dry!

Blessings!

Barb

Supplies:

Card Stock: Very Vanilla-101650, Whisper White-100730, Cherry Cobbler-119685, Marina Mist-119682

Punches: Modern Label-119849, Word Window-119857

Dies: Northern Frost decorative strip-120901, Table Setting-116819

Christmas Table Setting

Remember last week I showed you the place cards that I made for my Christmas table? I made some napkin rings to go with them :-).

I used the Petals-a-Plenty embossing folder to emboss the napkin ring from the Table Setting die, both, exclusive to Stampin' Up! The place card is made from the Table Setting die also.

To make the poinsettia that I used on my napkin rings, I punched two flowers out from the 5 Petal Flower punch- one in Old Olive and one in Cherry Cobbler. I inked the edges of the leaves with Garden Green ink. I punched the center of the poinsettia out from More Mustard with one of the flowers from the Boho Blossoms punch and stamped the center with the same center stamp I used on my place card. The edges and the center are inked/stamped with Cajun Craze. I will be using red napkins on my dinner table on Christmas, but white was what I grabbed for the photos :D. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!! Have a wonderful day today!

Blessings!

Barb

Supplies:

Card Stock: More Mustard-100946, Cherry Cobbler-119685, Old Olive-100702, Very Vanilla-101650, Whisper White-100730, Garden Green- 102584

Classic Stampin' Ink: Cherry Cobbler-119669, Cajun Craze-119671, Garden Green-102272, More Mustard-103162

Punches: 5 Petal Flower- 119880, Modern Label- 119849, Word Window- 119857

Dies: Table Setting- 116819

Candle with Die Cuts

Yesterday, I showed you a stamped image candle. Today, I wanted to show you that you can do the same method of melting images into a candle with die cuts too. I die cut several different sizes of snowflakes from the Northern Frost strip die in the 2010 Holiday mini. The snowflakes on this strip die are GORGEOUS!!!!

To apply the die cuts, you would place your die cuts where you want them to be on the candle and wrap the candle tightly with waxed paper, making sure the waxed paper is smooth. Using your heat tool, quickly and evenly heat the die cut and around its edges. This takes just seconds so be careful not to burn a hole into your candle. Pull the waxed paper gently away from the candle. You will be able to tell if the die cut melted into the candle all the way. If it didn't, just re-place the waxed paper and heat again. After the die cuts are set into the candle, add some stick on rhinestones.

Die cuts on candles are so pretty! I use my candles just for decorating purposes. I wouldn't recommend burning these and if they were lit, I wouldn't burn it past the start of the die cuts or the rhinestones. Once again, the Scallop Circle die makes pretty little candle coasters for displaying the candle :D. Have a holly jolly day today!!!

Blessings!

Barb

Supplies:

Dies: Northern Frost strip- 120901, Scallop Circle- 113468

Dasher Stamped Candle

I'm feeling better today- so far :-), so I got some photos this morning. I've been working on things for my daughter's skate team Christmas Show raffle. The raffle helps to raise money for the team. I'm showing this kind of backwards today :D. I sewed a bag for the candle on my serger using sparkle tulle that comes on a roll. I topped it with a tag, a poinsettia flower, and tied it with gold crochet thread. The flower is punched from the 5 Petal Flower punch and the petals are curled under slightly with a chop stick. I added a star shaped gold brad to the center and an Old Olive holly leaves die cut (holly leaves not Stampin' Up!).

I LOVE the Dasher stamp!! He is the most elegant reindeer stamp I think I've ever seen. I stamped him on white tissue paper with Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Ink and cut him out close to the image. I placed him on the candle where I wanted him to be and covered him with a sheet of waxed paper. Holding the waxed paper tight and smooth over the image on the candle, I used my heat tool to melt the image and tissue paper into the candle. This takes literally seconds, so if you try this be careful that you don't melt a hole into your candle. Be sure to keep the heat tool moving quickly over the image.

I finished him off by stamping my sentiment on another piece of tissue paper and repeating the process outlined above. I also added some red stick on rhinestones to his antlers. The gold base that my candle is standing on was made with mat board, gold metallic card stock, the Scalloped Circle die, and my Big Shot. These make quick and inexpensive, but lovely gifts, for just about anyone on your shopping list. My tall pillar candles cost about $3.00 each, but if you were to buy a candle with an image on it in the store, you would pay about $10.00 - $12.00 each. Have a wonderful day today!!!

Blessings!

Barb

Supplies:

Stamps: Dasher- 116816, Many Merry Messages- 116586

Classic Stampin' Ink: Cherry Cobbler- 119669

Punches: Extra Large Tag- 119866, 5 Petal Flower- 119880

Dies: Scallop Circle- 113468

Peace, Love, & Joy

Another Christmas card done in My Digital Studio :-). I've been sick for two days- so didn't have time to get photos yet :-(. Should be able to by tomorrow, as long as I don't get to feeling bad again. So far, I'm feeling not so bad, but not so good. Even though this card was done in My Digital Studio, Stampin' Up! has these papers and other embellishments in 'real' stuff, so it can be made for real :-D.

Hopefully, I will be able to hold out the rest of the day without having to go back to bed. I hope everyone is having a really great day today!!!

Blessings!

Barb

Supplies:

My Digital Studio

Another Digital Card

Okay, so I found more than one card sketch from the December Card Maps by Page Maps that I LOVED :-D. Don't you love this sketch?!!! To make the top part of the card in My Digital Studio, I simply added two circle punches, made them bigger, set them side by side, and filled them with Deck the Halls Designer Series Digital Paper. I used the Cherry Cobbler digital Seam Binding Ribbon as my ribbon choice. Easy Peasy and took about two minutes. Now I have to make it from the real paper :-D.

Have a wonderful day today!!!!! Oh by the way, I did get my husband's business Christmas cards done in ONE night- used a really simple design, got them addressed and mailed the next day. Scratching stuff off the Christmas to-do list is awesome :-D.

Blessings!!

Barb

Supplies:

My Digital Studio software

My Digital Studio digital downloads

Deck the Halls

The Deck the Halls Designer Series Paper is so rich- ya' gotta love it! My card below is made in My Digital Studio using the very same DIGITAL paper :-D. Cool, huh? That's one of the things that I LOVE about My Digital Studio- I get to keep these wonderful DSP's 4ever :). Another great feature of My Digital Studio is that I can design my cards before I ever cut into my DSP.

I used a December Card Map from Page Maps to make this card. I love this sketch! I also shrunk the Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon (another digital download) to fit the card sketch better. You can't do that with the real ribbon :D !!! My good friend Donna just purchased My Digital Studio- see what ya' have to look forward to Donna? You are gonna have a LOT of fun!! ;-D

I'm looking forward to doing some digital scrapping with my Christmas photos this year in My Digital Studio using this DSP. Can't wait!!! Have a wonderful day today!!!!!

Blessings!

Barb

Supplies:

My Digital Studio software

My Digital Studio downloads

Pretty Eggs

I do have some posts scheduled already for next week. I'm really working on getting back to blogging :). I don't usually post on the weekends so I can spend that time creating, well, I used to spend that time creating until my daughter started competitive skating :D, but I wanted to show you my cool eggs, lol! We have some chickens that lay colored eggs. The shells right now are pink and a really pretty shade of green. There's a regular brown egg in my photo just for the sake of comparison. The green egg looks kind of gray in the photo, but it really is the prettiest shade of green in person. It's kind of fun gathering the eggs everyday now :D.

Have a wonderful, wonderful weekend everyone and I will see you on Monday!!

Blessings!

Barb

Place Setting Cards

I got the Table Setting die when it was on sale during the Online Spectacular. Sooooo glad I got it!!! I made some little place setting cards quick, quick, quick! I die cut the cards, punched some Whisper White with the Word Window punch, used the Modern Label to punch out Garden Green, matted the Word Window, stamped the poinsettia on Very Vanilla, cut it out and popped it on there with a dimensional. Doesn't get much easier than that!!

I also made some with a snowflake from the Northern Frost die, using Marina Mist, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, and Very Vanilla.

And here they are together. These are going to look great on my Christmas table this year! My Christmas dishes have poinsettia's on them and I decorate the dining room with poinsettia's- so these will match perfectly.

It takes just a few minutes- literally- to make a complete set of these place cards. I'm going to work on the napkin rings soon :-D. Have a wonderful weekend and stay warm!!!!!

Blessings!

Barb

Supplies: Please see the post above :-)

Tissue Box Cover

I finally got some time to take some photos and wouldn't you know it- my photos came out all grainy! I checked my camera settings after I was done uploading them to my computer and realized that I never changed my camera settings from taking photos of the moon at twilight last week. DUH!!!! I have to take them all again, but I am posting the ones that didn't come out too awful :-).

This is a tissue box cover that I made with an elf I had laying around. I actually have several of these guys laying around because I made a bunch of them last year. The elves are made with the ornament punch (head) and the Build a Bear Workshop dies. They are such little cuties!

This is the top where the tissues come out :-D.

Sorry to not be chatty today, but I am in the middle of decorating the house for Christmas. I MADE some time today to get photos because I feel so badly about neglecting my blog. I really have too much on my plate I think :-D. I will get more photos and I should be able to update my blog for a few days worth of projects. I've been making things here and there as time allows. I think I need a time management course, lol! Hope everyone is happy and doing well! Thanks so much for visiting!!

Blessings!

Barb

Supplies:

Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Real Red, Garden Green

Classic Stampin' Ink: Bravo Burgundy, Garden Green, Creamy Caramel (retired)

Other: White gel pen, gold crochet thread

Happy Thanksgiving

Before I get going on all the preparations I have to do today for our family dinner, I wanted to jump on here real quick to wish everyone a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving!!! I also want to express my gratitude and thanks to all of our military members- and to my son in law, John, who serves in the armed forces and to my daughter's dear friend Michael- thank you for protecting our freedoms and our nation. John is back in the U.S. after serving in Iraq and Michael is currently deployed. Love and deep appreciation to you both!

Enjoy your day today everyone!!!

Blessings!

Barb

New My Digital Studio Downloads

Since time is scare around my house, I was so happy to see some new digital downloads this morning for My Digital Studio! I made a quick card with my new additions :D.

I hope this card shows up against the background of my blog. I used Very Vanilla for the snow and a paper from the new Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper download. I also used some images from the new Holly and Jolly Embellishments. I did this card in less than one minute- how is that for fast?! :D

I have some projects that I need to photograph and as soon as I get that done I will be posting to my blog. Sigh- I really miss posting here and I really miss working in my stamping room. Have a great day everyone and thanks for stopping by!

Blessings!

Barb

Supplies:

My Digital Studio- 118108

Holly Jolly Embellisments download-123954

Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper download-123953

Christmas Cheer Scrapbook Page

All right, I'm trying to be a good little blogger by actually getting something posted :D. There are new digital downloads available for My Digital Studio and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Christmas Cheer kit!! I've used the Simply Scrappin' Christmas Cheer kit in real life and I LOVE the Designer Series Papers and the colors used in this kit. I was so happy to see it available as a digital download! Now, I never have to worry about running out of the papers that I love so much :). I love the papers so much that I couldn't wait to play with them in My Digital Studio, so I used one of the November 2010 Page Maps sketches to create a digital scrapbook page this morning :). I am so behind on scrapping Christmas photos it isn't even funny! I think I'm just going to start scrapping them in My Digital Studio and then have books printed out for us and a copy for each of our children. We have four girls and two boys so it will be so much easier to just scrap one book and make copies, lol! Ya' gotta love the digital age :D.

I started work yesterday on the projects for my stampers to do at our next stampin' night, so you probably won't see that stuff for a while ;-). My scrap room is a tea total wreck from all the sewing I did in there getting ready for my daughter's Meet, so I have to get it straightened up today so I can really get down to work. I had to take time out to play with the new Christmas Cheer digital kit first though ;-). I know you understand, lol!!! Hopefully, I can get my mess cleaned up pretty quickly today so I have some time to do some creating this afternoon. My daughter and I are having 'girl's night out' with a friend of ours this evening, so it will be late before we get back! Have a great day today!!!

Blessings!

Barb

Supplies:

My Digital Studio software- 118108

Christmas Cheer digital kit-123956

Hope to be Back Soon!

October was a really busy month for us!!! My daughter was given a beautiful horse (Shiloh- see post below for a photo of him) and they have become the best of friends. She works with him everyday on his training and he is doing well. He is very eager to please once he knows what it is you want him to do. And he is soooooo sweet in personality! I don't believe I've ever known a horse as sweet as Shiloh. He is a very social boy, loves to visit with anyone, and when his training is done for the day, he follows my daughter around like a big puppy. If she stops, he stops. If she walks, he walks. That is a good thing because that means he has accepted her as the herd leader :).

Then she had the first Meet of the new skate year (starts in September) and I had to sew a skate dress for her specifically for the Glide Waltz and the Tango- both done on skates :). I hand glued on just over 300 rhinestones on that puppy! Whenever it gets close to a Meet, there is a lot more hours of practice, so most of my month went to helping with Shiloh and getting ready for the Meet on October 22-24. After we got back from the Meet, both my daughter and I got sick. I got sick three hours after she did and we were sick for an entire week. We both just started feeling better on Monday.

I wanted to share some photos I took of Shiloh on the morning of our first frost. When I went out that morning to let the chickens out for the day, there was a thick blanket of frost on the ground- it almost looked like snow. I have a couple of frost photos at the end of my post, but here is Shiloh resting his head on a wood post. Lol! He cracked me up! Silly boy, he just rested his head on the post and looked out at the pasture for a few minutes.

Shiloh is a gentle boy and he is starting to get used to being around our kitties. He wasn't too sure he liked them at first, but I think he has decided they aren't so bad. Our kitty, Lucky, thinks Shiloh should be petting him (rolling eyes ).

And here is what happens after you spend a few minutes talking to Shiloh and rubbing his head and neck.... he stands at the back fence for a looooong time waiting for you to come back and visit with him more.

How pitiful is this?!! He waited at the back fence like this for 30 minutes! I felt so bad for not going back out, but I had to get stuff done!

All right, here are a couple of the photos I took that morning before visiting with Shiloh, of our first frost. The frost is like little needles, but you really can't tell that unless you get up CLOSE.

Who knew frost was so stinkin' cool?!!! Not me! Today is our busy day. It's our long day at the rink, so maybe I can get some projects done to post on my poor neglected blog while I'm there. I should be able to get back soon though! Have a wonderful day today!!!

Blessings!

Barb

New Family Member

If you've been reading my blog for a while, then you will remember that my daughter's horse died suddenly in January. It was such a heartbreaking event for our family. My daughter was given a sweet horse on Sunday and yesterday we brought him home. His name is Shiloh and although he needs much training, he is eager to please and just a real sweetie pie. He has one blue eye and one brown eye- how is that for unique?! Our daughter is happy as a clam in the ocean with her new best friend. And he is just as smitten with her! Meet Shiloh...

All right, this boy needs lots of training so I am on my way to the barn for more lead training. See you soon!

Blessings!

Barb

Faux Hand tooled Leather Mini Book

I had to wait for my flower to dry so I could finish up my faux hand tooled leather mini book :-). I tied raffia to the coils- it just seemed to be a good touch ;-).

The flower was die cut and I used the side that my cutting plate left impressions in. After you use your cutting plates for a while, all the cut impressions in the cutting plate will leave those impressions on the wrong side of your die cut. This is good for those times that you actually want that texture, lol! I very lightly brushed my sponge with Night of Navy ink on it over the flower to bring out the texture that was left from my cutting plate. I coated the flower and the leaves with Crystal Effects- which is what I had to wait for to dry. I got impatient though and finished it with my heat tool. The Crystal Effects blistered just a bit, but I kind of like the look of that :-).

The inside cover and a couple of pages from inside my book....

If you'd like to make faux hand tooled leather for a mini book or to use on your cards, please see the tutorial below this post for how to do it. If you want to know what stamp sets I used, drop me a line. I usually put that information, but I'm kind of in a hurry today :-D. Have a great day everyone!!

Blessings!

Barb

Faux Hand tooled Leather Part 1

When I went to Hobby Lobby to get origami supplies for my daughter, I went to the scrapbooking section of the store and found these awesome aged book covers. I just loved them and decided that I could pull that off at home, lol! I took it a step further though and made faux hand tooled leather. I'm going to have to do this tutorial in three parts because I have 11 photos :-). I used two 4" coasters for my covers because we know someone who owns a restaurant and he gave me a ton of them for free! Gotta love it :-) !

Here is what you will need:

Paper:

Crumb Cake card stock- cut into 4x4 squares and corner round each corner (or you could trim after adhering to your covers)

Classic Stampin' Ink:

Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Soft Suede

Other Supplies:

Finial Press Textured Impressions embossing folder

Brayer

Sponges

Yes glue

Royal Coat satin decoupage medium

Step 1. Take 2 pieces of 4x4 Crumb Cake card stock and run them through the Big Shot in the Finial Press embossing folder. These will be your covers- front and back.

Step 2. Ink your brayer with Early Espresso ink and brayer over the Finial Press embossed card stock covers. You may have to do this a couple of times, but do it lightly so you don't get ink on anything except the raised areas of the embossed card stock.

Step 3. With Cajun Craze and a sponge, lightly sponge over each cover, leaving some areas un-inked.

Step 4. Again with Cajun Craze, sponge over the edges and a few areas of the card stock to deepen the color of the ink.

Step 5. With Soft Suede ink, sponge over the areas you didn't sponge with Cajun Craze and also on the edges. You will want the Cajun Craze to show through the Soft Suede so don't ink too heavily.

See post #2 below for the rest of the instructions...

Faux Hand tooled Leather Part 2

Step 6. Crumple up the card stock, but be careful not to tear the edges.

Step 7. Smooth out your crumpled card stock and flip it face down. Apply Yes glue over the entire back surface. I use my finger to apply because I get better coverage and it also helps to smooth out the card stock so that it lays flatter. Apply it to your coaster and run the brayer over it several times to get good contact with the coaster. Check the edges and smooth them down with your thumbs if needed.

Step 8. After your glue dries, apply one thin coat of Royal Coat Satin Decoupage. When it dries completely, it will have a very slight shine. You don't want it too shiny because you want it to look like hand tooled leather :-).

Step 9. For the inside covers, you will ink the card stock the same as you did on the outside covers. Crumple the inside covers and very lightly, rub your Cajun Craze sponge over the wrinkles. Apply Yes glue as in Step 7 and apply to the inside covers. Apply Royal Coat.

This is what the outside cover and the inside cover look like together.

See post #3 below for the rest of the instructions....