Simple and Easy Christmas Cards

For the past few years, I had good intentions of making my Christmas cards, like I had in the past. Well, time always seemed to get away from me and I would end up sending out store bought cards.
Then,  I would hear about it from family members that they were disappointed, because I hadn't made them special hand made cards. This year there will be handmade cards to send out, but not special, elaborate ones. I always tell myself that I will start early in the summer, but that just never seems to happen. I am such a procrastinator.
The other day in Michael's I bought a few Tim Holtz unmounted red rubber stamps with Christmas cards in mind.  This morning I dragged out some supplies and created a few fast and easy cards. I also used my Tim Holtz ink pads.
I bought a box of precut and folded cards with envelopes on sale a few weeks back in the craft store. Those cards are such a time saver, because I won't have to cut and score cardstock. Next, I rummaged downstairs in the basement, and found several precut corrugated cardboard pieces that I had sprayed with glitter sometime ago. I stamped my new images, used the Xyron machine, and started attaching the pieces to my cardstock.
Some of the cards below look crooked, but trust me, that is just me taking my photos and cropping. Sorry about that.



The next 3 cards were created from pads of background paper that I also bought on sale at Michaels. The papers were in a small pad. The pad had several designs each with a scalloped edge.
I layered my stamped image onto the glittered corrugated cardboard. On a couple I glued silk poinsettias and holly leaf and a rhinestone.


  
I did a couple of the winter tree scene using a Dreamweaver stencil and Dreamweaver embossing white paste that I sprinkled glitter onto the paste as soon as I removed the stencil. Then I let the card sit for about 15 minutes until the paste was dry. This card is so showy, but in the photo you can't see how pretty it really is. The glittered, raised paste background just doesn't show up.
I think this card needs a red cardinal or some pop of color to finish it off. I have looked for small flat embellishments, but haven't found anything that I liked. Any suggestions?

The ornament cards below were super easy. After Christmas last year, I bought a couple of packages of 10 cards and envelopes that were shaped like an ornament for 90% off the original $1.00 price. Oh, don't you just love sales and bargains? I sure do. :-)
I also bought some that were shaped like a Christmas stocking. I believe I saw the same card shapes in the $1.00 bins at Michael's again this year.
I once again used the glittered corrugated cardboard, but I added gift tags that are 3-D with glitter on top. I just cut off the part of the tag with the punched hole and gold ribbon tie. Easy, Peasy, don't you think?
I thought they would be cute to send to the kids in the family, and they can hang them on their Christmas tree. The message inside the card is rubber stamped.


The Christmas stocking card below was also from a pack of ten, red cards. I cut out a piece of cardstock to make the white topper part of the stocking, then stamped Merry Christmas.
 

Below: Yesterdays Project for the day.
I had the sewing machine out yesterday and made several fabric bookmarks for gifts. I ended up using my Big Bite tool for the first time to punch out the holes thru the fabric and then to add the grommet.

Well, that's it for today for projects. The area where I was working is covered in glitter, and I must confess I have a lot on me too. :-(
If you want to send homemade cards this year and time is an issue...cheat a little like I did to make some fast and easy cards. :-)

More Fairy Slippers, beaded icicle ornaments and Snowman earrings

I made a few more fairy slippers today, but unfortunately I waited until  just a little while ago to take photo's of them. It has been a gray day, but the light was fading fast when I took the pictures. So, I apologize in advance that the photos are dark and you can't see the details that well. :-(
Here are two more of the larger 2 1/2  x  5 inch Holiday Fairy Slippers.

Next, I created mini fairy slippers. The size of the ornaments are 1/2  x  3 1/2 inches.

I used cardstock in mauve, red, light green, red, pearl white and small red circles patterned.

Next, I used some glass lamp work snowman head beads that I bought last year to make a pair of earrings. The round earrings were really hard to get them to stand up to take the picture. Ugggghh!!!!


My next project was to make some beaded crystal icicle ornaments. The icicles could be used year round as sun catchers in a window. I plan to add the icicle's to my Christmas packages for family members. I used 3 inch headpins and varied sizes of crystal beads and then added a ribbon so the icicles could hang.


Well, that's it for my projects today.  It is time to start thinking of what I will make for supper. I hope you all had a wonderful day. I just wish my sinus headache would go away.

A day for making home made Jellied Cranberry Sauce

Since we grow cranberries, and I had fresh berries waiting to be used, I decided I would make a few batches of jellied cranberry sauce. I've been saving 24 ounce Clausen pickle jars to store my sauce. But I plan on making more sauce, so I will go to the hardware store and pick up a few cases of Ball canning jars.

I took several pictures to share with all of you while I was making my sauce. Nothing beats home made cranberry sauce, but if you have to buy it..we sell our cranberries to Ocean Spray.  Hint, Hint. :-)
Here is the recipe I used from the Ocean Spray website, but if you do a google search you will find many recipes.
                  Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce Recipe

Before starting wash and sterilize your canning jars.


I started off picking out any bad berries, then rinsed the cranberries in a strainer.
2 cups of berries, 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar will yield 1 cup of cranberry sauce.

Photo below..cranberries and water in pan. Cook until the berries soften and burst open.


 

When the skins on the berries have popped. Dump the juice and berries into a sieve or a food mill that is straddling a large pot. I used a sieve with legs. With the wooden pestel keep mashing the berries inside the sieve againist the sides until you only have dried skins left. Discard the skins. (chickens love eating the skins)




I continued mashing the cooked cranberries, until all I had left was the skins and seeds. I scraped the outsides of the sieve frequently to collect as much of the sauce as I could. You could  use a food mill to seperate the skins from the cooked pulp of the berries. Discard the skins and seeds. The sieve and pestle that I used to mash the berries, had once been my grandmother's.

Now, place the pan with the cranberry water/juice and pureed cranberries on the stove and add the sugar. Stir well. You can tell when your sauce starts to thicken and forms a coating on a metal spoon and drips off very slowly from the spoon that the sauce is ready.

Skim the foam from the top of the berries that forms in the pan and put it in a dish to discard as you don't want foam mixed in your sauce.  .


 foam that needs to be discarded

after the sauce is in the jar...take a knife and gently move it back and forth to remove any air bubbles. Take a damp piece of cheese cloth and wipe around the lip of the jar and the top edge.


I then filled 3-24 ounce jars with sauce leaving 1/2 inch head space at the top of the jars. I melted paraffin wax in a coffee can on top of my gas stove. When the wax was melted I then put a 1/4-1/2 inch coating of wax over the sauce making sure that the wax covered the sides of the jars well so no air could get to the sauce.


I still need to make some more jellied sauce, but I also plan on making some whole berry sauce, and then cranberry orange relish.  Making sauce doesn't take that long. You should give it a try.

P.S..it is much easier just canning the sauce in Ball jars with lids and screw covers using the same method as above just not using the wax.
Water bath the sealed jars. Don't screw the caps on too tightly. I place the jars in the boiling water for 15 minutes, remove from water with tongs and almost immediately you will hear the covers popping/sealing the lids. Let cool and loosen covers or remove. They sell plastic screw covers to use once the lid has been opened on the jar.

Most of the time I make a larger batch. 12 cups cleaned/rinsed berries, 6 cups water, and 6 cups of sugar for my recipe and I get about 30 half pint jars of cranberry sauce.

Fabric Postcards for the Mail Art Envelope Swap

I wanted to make some fabric post cards to tuck inside my Mail Art Envelopes that I stamped for Lenna's swap the other day. In a previous blog note I posted the envelopes. I dug thru my containers of fabric to  find fabric in my stash that would co ordinate with each of my rubber stamped mail art envelopes.
I appliqued fabric to the front fabric,  rubber stamped and heat set POST CARD on the back sides. Then I either rubber stamped or appliqued  a matching piece on the backs. The colors are a little off, as it is a dark, rainy, day, and I had a tough time taking photo's of the post cards without getting shadows. The recipients can use a sharpie pen to add a message and address when they mail them out.                                             Well, now to get my swap out in the mail.
                                       
Below are the fabric post cards that I stitched up this morning.
front of Mermaid post card
back of my post card
front of Alice postcard with appliqued Alice.
back of fabric post card with applique White Rabbit.
front of fabric coffee post card
back of coffee post card with applique
 
front of fabric mail art post card. I had a hard time finding fabric that would go with my mail art theme, and so I went with artist tools and a ribbon with the word friends on it.

back of mail art fabric post card

P.S...My mail art envelopes with the fabric postcards tucked inside the envelope were mailed out Friday, November 12th. I took my 4 swap envelopes to the post office to make sure they had the correct postage and if they okay. The postal worker at the window took my envelopes, weighted them, checked for thickness, and took them as they were okay to go.

Mail Art Envelope Swap

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back

I joined a mail art decorated, closed envelope swap on  Lenna's Creative Swaps blog. We had to decorate 3-4 envelopes, and I chose to use light background inks and rubber stamps to decorate mine. I always use to decorate any envelopes that I mailed out, but then got out of the habit. Sometimes it took me longer to decorate the envelope than to create the card that was tucked inside.

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For this swap, I found some 5 x 7  1/2 inch, manila envelopes with clasp closures in one of my  junk drawers. I had four, and so I am sending 4, that way Lenna gets to keep one of the envelopes. I will get 4 back.
I must admit, after I smushed ink over the envelopes it made it really hard to stamp on these envelopes. The ink on the rubber stamps didn't want to transfer well. I've never had that happen before, and I don't really know why it happened.
I chose coffee, mail art, Alice in Wonderland, and of course mermaids  for my envelope themes. I did dig out a lot of my Elvis stamps, so I may do one envelope with that theme.                         
I'm not completely done, because I would like to find some themed postage stamps to go on my stamped envelopes to mail them out.

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I am so disorganized lately and I have no clue were I stashed my older postage stamps that I could use. I would also like to  make some fabric postcards to tuck inside the envelopes before I seal them shut. We shall see how that goes.
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This was a  fun project to do on a cold afternoon. Do you decorate the envelopes that you mail out?

Seashell ornament

How I wish I was in Florida beachcombing for shells, but I have big boxes of the treasures of the sea that I collected over the years. After making fairy slippers yesterday I was in the holiday creating mood.
I was downstairs doing laundry, and I started to poke thru some of my boxes, and spied boxes of  the  smaller shells that I collected from all over Florida. I decided to make a seashell wreath ornament or wall hanging.  Several years back I made some while I was on vacationing in Florida to give as gifts. I can't be out in the mid day sun, because I sunburn too easily and making the wreaths gave me something to do while Tom was out fishing.
Here is my seashell project  that I made yesterday. The wreath is about 3 x 3.

Don't forget... the clocks get turned back during the night, well actually very early Sunday morning at 2 A.M EST.

I won a giveaway...on Peggy Gato's blog

I posted about a blog giveaway! On November, 2nd., I posted a message that Peggy's Mixed Up Art blog  had a few giveaways if you left a comment and posted on your blog about her giveaway.
Just a few minutes ago I received an email from Peggy to let me know that I won the Anna Griffin giveaway prize. Below is my giveaway prize.

I am stunned! For someone who has rarely ever won anything in her life, within a month I have won two blog giveaways and one earlier this year. WOWZER!!!!
Thank you so much Peggy for your generosity.

Holiday Fairy Slippers Ornaments

This morning I decided I would work on one of the 3 swaps I signed up for. The project I chose to make this morning was.. paper Holiday Fairy Slippers for my Yahoo group, An Affair with Art. I will send to Sheila Q, Gloria K, and Dawn V.

I selected heavier, double sided scrapbook papers, ribbons, buttons, flowers, leaves.
Used a bone folder, 2 different style slipper patterns, tacky glue, scissors and a toothpick. I also had a wet paper towel handy to wipe glue off my sticky fingers.
Two slits can be added to the heel to make a banner or you can punch a hole and slip a decorative ribbon to match the shoe to hang from a tree. The slippers are approximately 2 x 5 1/2.

I created 3 slippers to start.  I am not sure if these will be the three that I will send out for my swap, as I plan to make more.
Slipper patterns can be found on the following webites and blogs. Flat mule type slipper from tempting templates and the slippers with the heel backs on  artful affirmations blog and  pink gate blog .

This is the Fairy slipper..flat, mule, slip on style Holiday Fairy Slipper.

2nd style with a backing on the slipper
side view

my 3rd slipper also has a shoe back, but I added a button on the bottom as a heel. This slipper has two scored/folds
 
I tucked lace into each slipper, but I may change that out and add something else. I want to rubber stamp a little decorative tag to add to each slipper.
All 3 of my Holiday Fairy Slippers:

This turned out to be a fun ornament project, and I definately want to make more to add on my Christmas gifts, and thought maybe I would try making them smaller, and then they would be perfect for a small tree.
I need to find packaging to mail each of these out in so they won't get crushed while in the custody of the postal service.
You should  give these a try.What do you think, do you like them, aren't they cute? 

Fun free vintage Halloween labels

Yes, I know that Halloween has come and gone, but while blog hopping on this rainy day I found a blog that has some free vintage Halloween labels. Check out: Coco and Bella . Maybe you could use the labels next year, or on some other art projects. I know I plan on using them.

I found a Blog Giveaway

While reading my yahoo groups digests from Collage Cats this morning I found this giveaway on  Peggy's Mixed Up Art! blogspot. Check it out and leave a comment for a chance to win. I did. :-)

I can't believe it is already November. I was out and about yesterday, and I found a few things for Christmas gifts. So, I now have a few on my list bought for. The stores are busily putting out their Christmas wares, and decorations. Seem's like I blinked and the year is nearly over, how can that be? I can remember how time sometimes dragged as a child, and my mother would tell me, just wait the years will fly by as you get older...she was RIGHT!

This morning one of my first priorities will be to get out and VOTE.

Then, I hope to work on some swaps this afternoon, as I want to get them done way before the deadlines. The swaps I am doing are a 12 days of Christmas swap on AAWA where I have to make 12 small handmade gifts.
 Another swap: Holiday fairy slippers on AAWA. The pattern for the mule slippers were found on Stampington.com tempting templates and another pattern that that has a tutorial can be found  here..artful affirmations.  Here are more fairy slippers to drool over. pink gate blogspot . We can use whatever pattern that we like, but we have to keep the slipper size approximately 2 x 5 1/2 inches.
And, lastly a fun rubber stamped mail art envelopes swap that my friend, Lenna is hosting.
Have a great day my friends. 
Elaine