Christmas Gift Holder, 2009 #2

Hi everyone! Today I want to share with you a gift card holder that I made to hold a couple of Itune gift cards in for my daughters' boyfriend.

The stamp that I use is from Penny Black and I got it at Archiver's for 75% off a couple of years ago...SCORE!!! Isn't this little snowman too cute! I used my Stampin'Up markers to color in the image, than I use a two-way glue pen and made some lines under the snowman and sprinkle on some glitter to make it look like snow. The designer paper is some that I've had for sometime now and like that it had snowmen on it to go with my stamped image. Was very simple to make.

Thanks for stopping by today.......Mary

Christmas Gift Holder, 2009

Hi to all of my friends! Hope you are are staying cool in this hot summer heat we all seem to be experiencing!

Today I wanted to show you a gift card holder that I made for my Mom last Christmas. I used cardstock that I got at Archiver's, love that color! Does it remind you of a fancy name company? Anyway, I found this gift card holder on the web, but unfortunately when I printed out the directions, the name of the creator didn't print and I forgot to write it on the bottom. The creator use the metric system as every measurement was in centimeters, so maybe from the UK? The stamp set I used is from Stampin' Up called Serene Snowflakes and Delightful Decorations. I use the Ornament punch from Stampin' Up to punch the ornament out with. If you click on the picture you will see the snowflakes better. To make my bow I used a handy little gadget called the Bow Easy.

Hope everyone has had a great Friday too...see you soon!

Mary

Dear Friend Card

Hello to all my fellow crafters! Hope you had a relaxing week-end. I did!

On April 4, 2010, I showed you a card that I made with this Stampin' Up stamp called "Dear Friend". Here is another one that I made to send to a friend who is going thru chemo, I wanted to let her know that I was thinking of her. The white cardstock is embossed with an embossing folder from Cuttlebug, ribbon from Jo-Ann's and cardstock probably from Michael's. I colored in the stamped image with Stampin' Up markers and lightly sponged the edges. There are two other flowering images that are in this stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by today to see me! Mary

Magic Pillowcases

Today I'm sharing with you some pillowcases that I made with college team fabric. These pillowcases are just too easy to make! The hardest part is cutting the fabric for them, really! If you can sew a straight line, you can make these! These would make cute gifts for your favorite child with themed fabric, think cars, trains, animals, etc. I know these instructions have been around for awhile but I just happened upon them recently. I found a video from Missouri Star Quilt Company: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrYWCma9wgM&feature=related
than found some written instructions that a friend sent to me last year and went to town making these. A good time to try this is when you can find fabric on sale, inexpensive! My daughters will be getting these pillowcases. Wouldn't these be great to give to a teen who is going to college as a freshman!?

Thanks for stopping by today, have a crafty day.....Mary

Christmas In July,2009, #5

Ok, today is the last day for Christmas cards! This is also a image that my friend Chanda

http://www.bellevuestampingclub.com/ (here is the link to her blog)

sent to me last year, I really like this image, it is from Stampin Up stamp set-Gifts of Christmas. On this one I once again added some gemstones to the stamped image to really draw your eyes to it. The red cardstock was put into a Stampin Up embossing folder called, Petals-A-Plenty, I also put some gold ink onto the round dots that are the center of the petals. After I saw the picture of this card, I wished I would have used a different ribbon and one with more width to it to.

I will let you have a break from Christmas, but do want to share with you the Christmas gift cards that I made too.

Happy Crafting....Mary

Christmas In July,2009, #4

Here are two Christmas cards that I made with some stamped images that my friend Chanda

http://www.bellevuestampingclub.com/ (this is a link to her blog)

sent to me last year. I don't know what stamp set it is from. They are really simple and I like that about this card! I added some gemstones to the image to give it some bling! If you click on the picture you may be able to see the gemstones on the card. I cut the shape out using the Stampin Up Top Note die cut with my Big Kick machine.

Have a nice day and see you back here tomorrow....Mary

Christmas In July,2009, #3

Here is another Penny Black stamp, have I told you how much I like these!!? I LOVE snowmen and this one is just too cute! This time I used it as a Christmas thank you card. As you can see I followed how I made the other two cards except to use a different stamp. I used Stampin' Up markers to color the image in. In a couple of years I will recycle this stamp and use the image to make Christmas cards for those on my card list, they'll never know that I used it for thank you cards!

I must be trying to cool off by thinking of Christmas, it is so hot here now with very high humidy, as it is all over some parts of the country. Think cool and I'll show you some more Christmas cards this coming week!

Mary

Christmas In July,2009, #2

Ok, today I'm sharing the Christmas cards that I mailed to my friends who have dogs in their families. I just LOVE this Penny Black stamp called "Wishing"!! I see my Bella sitting next to my husband's chair at night and alot of times she looks so much like this little dog under the Christmas tree! I basically made this card the same way as the one I posted yesterday but added ribbon to the side of the card and used a different color of cardstock. I used Stampin' Up markers to color the stamp in and than when you are all finished coloring in the image you "huff" on the stamp to re-moisten the ink, pretty clever of whomever thought of this idea! This stamped image makes me smile everytime I see it too!

Now go have some crafty fun today, you'll be glad that you did!

Mary

Christmas In July,2009

Happy Sunday to all of you, hope your day has started out great! Today I'm going to share with you the Christmas cards that I made for some of the people on my list. My list is not very big, less than 30 people, so it's not overwhelming to make cards.

First I started out with kraft color cardstock for the base. Than I cut out white cardstock a tad smaller and ran it thru my Big Kick in a Cuttlebug embossing folder called Snowflakes, I than use a product called Stickles, it has glitter in it, makes the snowflakes all sparkly. Next I cut out pink scallops with my Nestibilites scallop die, than added a small oval on top of that, I used my coluzzle to cut that out. I also used a punch from Stampin' Up called the ornament punch. I used the Stampin Up stamp set-Delightful Decorations, that goes with this punch. The tree branch stamp I found at Jo-Ann's. I used pink ribbon as a ornament hook and that completed my card. I did everything assembly line fashion, doing each section at one time on all of the cards, than moved on to another section. On some I used green cardstock and some others red, just to change it up abit.

Tomorrow I'll show you the cards that I sent to my dog loving friends for Christmas. Happy crafting until than.....Mary

Baked Potato Bags, #2

Last week-end we had rain, so I made seven more of these baked potato bags, (see my original post about these bags on July 5 ,2010 for information/links on how to make and use). Once you have them cut out, they go together very quickly. I already gave four of these bags to a couple of my friends. I gave them each a large one and a small one. I printed off instructions on how to use them and also a link to a video on how to use them too, a visual is nice to have.

Hope your week-end is a great one....Mary

Another Cake Box Birthday

Here is a picture of the second pop-up cake, birthday cake that I made. This was one I gave to one of my daughter's co-workers and she just loved it!

Here is a picture of the box top.

I used Martha Stewart's two butterfly punches and paper that I found at Michael's. The cake is made using a Sizzix die that I found at Archiver's.

A nice way to show someone how special they are on their birthday! Thanks for dropping in today...see you soon!

Here is a link to the directions I used.
Here is a link to purchase the die.

Mary

Smokestack Baked Beans

This bean recipe is so good, it is named after a bbq restaurant here in town that has yummy bbq! This would be a good dish to take to one of your summer bbq's!

Click on picture to read recipe and this is also from a recipe swap for side dishes, again 6"x6".

Crock-Pot Beef Stew

Hi, I'm going to share another recipe swap card that I made, again it is 6"x6".

This is so good and with the summer heat now, this would be a good hearty meal without heating up the house. I usually make it when it is cool out, but why not now too! Click on picture to see the recipe card better.

Crock-Pot Beef Stew

2 pounds beef stew meat, cubed
1 can peas, drained (frozen can be used too)
1 cup sliced carrots
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 teaspoon salt
1 can tomato soup, thinned with 1/2 can water
1 big raw potato, cubed (I use two most of the time)
1 bay leaf
1/2 to 1 cup chopped celery

Spray crock-pot liner with PAM. Mix all of the above in the crock-pot EXCEPT the peas. Cook on LOW for 8 hours. About 15 minutes before serving, add drained peas to the crock-pot, stirring. Before serving, remove the bay leaf.
So good!! Hope you enjoy it too.

Thanks for stopping in!

Mary

Pizza Spaghetti

Hi everyone! Hope your week-end is going well, mine is so far.

Today I'm going to share a recipe card that I made for a recipe swap. This is a 6" x 6" card. It is for a kid-friendly recipe, well I think most kids, young and old, will like. Click on picture to see recipe better.

Thanks for dropping by to see me today.

Mary

Baked Potato Bag

Do you have trouble making a really good baked potato in your microwave? Boy I use to, until my mom told me about these baked potato bags.

My mom received one of these bags from her granddaughter, Jennifer, last year and was just going on about how good your potato comes out. Well, I don't know about all of you but when I try to make a potato in the microwave it either comes out all shrivel up or still hard in the middle. So when I got home from her house, I did a "google" search and found all kinds of ideas on these bags. I must say though, that after reading what some people had to say, I was also scared to try these in the microwave too! I guess if you don't use the right kind of fabric/batting, they can start a fire or scorch! Hmm....

Well as you can see I decided to give it a go and hope my husband didn't kill me for messing up the microwave.

YOU MUST USE 100% COTTON FABRIC, COTTON BATTING and COTTON FLANNEL. This is very important in making these bags. They also suggested that you only use them in microwaves that have a turntables too.

You can make sweet potatoes, corn on the cob. You can reheat biscuits, rolls, tortillas, sweet rolls, etc.

To make your potatoes: wash the potato and dry with a paper towel, wrap the potato in the damp paper towel you just used. DO NOT POKE HOLES IN THE POTATO. Pop into the bag and put in microwave. Bake for 4 to 8 minutes, depends on the size of your potato, checking every 2 minutes and turning the bag over every 2 minutes, until you squeeze it and feel it give some. I let mine sit in the bag for 2 minutes after removing from the microwave. DO NOT use the bag over and over to cook many potatoes. The bag may overheat and scorch or start a fire. Heat it only ONCE, then let cool COMPLETELY before using again. Wash the bag if soiled, dry before using. Do not use fabric softener.

Here is where I found the directions for making my baked potato bags:

http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/5585/baking-potato-bag

Now I've made my bags two different ways, one with the cotton batting and one with cotton flannel fabric. The two that I made with cotton batting I gave to my daughter to have. Than I looked at my mom's and the one she had didn't have any cotton batting in the middle, her's just had cotton flannel fabric on the inside and cotton fabric on the outside, so that is what I did with the ones in the pictures.

You can make these bags to any size you would like, the one's in the pictures are small, just right for one potato for a single person. I cut the material at 9" x 16".

I must say that the ones we had last night for supper were very good! Of course, that was after I put about 1/4 stick of butter and some sour cream on mine!!

To see a video on how to use one of these bags go to this link and scroll down:

http://www.potatobakingbag.com/index.htm

Thanks for stopping by to see me!!

Mary

Fourth of July

Just wanted to take the time to wish all of my followers a Happy Fourth of July!! I hope you have a day spent with the ones you love, good food, fun and happiness. Let's also remember those who are in the service, who are still protecting our country and the freedoms that we all enjoy! Have a great day!!

Mary

Pop-Up Cake Birthday Card

I want to show you the birthday card that I made for a friend. It starts out as a box....

You open the lid and a suprise awaits the birthday person.....

This is the best kind of cake that a birthday person could receive...it has no calories!! It doesn't go stale. It's one that they can keep for quite some time to enjoy over and over for many days or months!

Here is a close up view. The butterflies has Stickles added to the wings to give them some sparkle.

The cake is made with a Sizzix die called Pop-Up Cake die. The buttlerflies are made with a Martha Stewart punch and the daisies are from a punch that I've had for many years, I believe it is a Marvy punch. I use an older Stampin' Up stamp "Celebrate" from Wonderful Words set. Cardstock and designer paper is from Michael's. I found the directions on how to make the box for the cake at this blog:

http://creationsbypatti.blogspot.com/2009/05/cake-in-box-tutorial.html

Mary