Country Roads Stamping

Button Button, who has the button?

I do!  and lots of them - I saw recently where Patty Bennett had made a really cute bracelet using our buttons and loved it - so I wrote Patty and commented on it then went out to purchase a few of the items I needed - mainly the beading needle - that is a MUST have for this project.

 
The buttons are from the Holiday mini, because that was what I had on hand and now I'm anxious to order some new buttons so I can make the spring colors.  I wear bracelets a lot - not much of a necklace person but I do love different bracelets so this was perfect for me - I'll be wearing it at Leadership.  It takes about 30 buttons to complete it and mine was a little large, but I have small wrists.  These buttons are strung on elastic thread and while I think young girls would really love this - I think it might be a little too complicated for them so it might have to be something mom would make - however teens and even tweens would enjoy it - not to mention those of us that are over the hill!!!  These buttons were all from the Candy cane collection for the big buttons - you can bet that I ordered some more buttons - going to see if this will fly as a class! Here's one more picture of just the bracelet:

 

Secret Sister at Leadership conference

This year, several of us that are under Jan Wakeland will be participating in a Secret Sister exchange today at lunch time - so just on the off chance that my secret sister has some spare time to go blog hopping (I don't see how she could) I will not give her name but I will show you the "stuff" I have for her:  First off the container - I wanted something different, not just the same old bag but a container that she could actually re-use should she want to or something easy to pack to take back home.

 
This way I can hold this box all morning without anything getting mashed and my secret sister will have no clue that it is hers :)  At lunch time, I will add a ribbon (some of the wide grosgrain we carry) and a handmade tag using the new Chocolate set because she, ofcourse, loves chocolate!  Now for a few of the items on the inside.

 
This thing is stuffed full - I added one more item that will not be photographed but it is some homemade fudge that I made yesterday - if I had some room I would have made some more oreo truffles and put them in here too - however, I would have wanted to eat them myself. 

 
We were to do at least one tag, one three D item (which I did several of these) and at least one card - I did three but sorry - no pictures of those.  Lots of chocolate in here because she loves chocolate and several other items, but I'll not show them simply because there should be some things that are a surprise - just in case she happens to look here or anyone else for that matter!!!  Hopefully she'll be happy with it.  That's it for today!

Snowman Class

Well, Saturday I had a snowman class and appropriately the day was a White Out - 3 of my ladies could not make it and I could hardly blame them - I would not have wanted to drive here either - but 2 made it so we had the class!  I'm putting 3 of the 4 projects up here but not the 4th because I didn't get it finished yet for 2 of the ladies who called in.  Guess that will be finished when I return from Leadership because now I have fast forwarded to getting everything ready for that big event. Here's the items, some you have seen already:

 
Spoon rest snowman - Jan showed us this at RAD and it makes a cute little winter decoration.

 
This is the little snowman that I put up here earlier - with the popcorn inside - but Debbie didn't like the "pointy" hat - so we worked out an adjustment so we now have a toboggan on his cute little head - thanks Deb for the motivation to change!

 
This is not quite finished - I need to put some more snowflakes on the outside and fill a little more "filler" in the box - this was a snowman soup box with cocoa, chocolate morsels, & marshmallows to make snowman soup - with a cute little poem attached.  I found these super cute mugs with snowmen on them to put in the boxes - would make a simple but cute gift to give on some of these delightfully cool days ;) 

and for the record-chicken house didn't get cleaned - the crazy birds wouldn't come outside because it was too snowy and cold - these gals are smarter than I thought and I must talk to Sara to find out what that compost litter is!! I have a few more surprises this week, including the goodies I've made for my secret sister - those items will be up here on Thursday because there is always the chance she could sneak a peek at the blog - not likely but she might!  "See" you tomorrow!!

Fantastic Friday

Friday is so fantastic in many ways - end of the work week (for most) time for sleeping in (for some!) and some free time to get things done (I wish!) but today it is Fantastic Friday because I literally stumbled on something on my way home from York last week.  I stopped at Michael's just to look at their jewelry line  and picture frames - let's face it, they don't really have anything I NEED in paper products!  While looking there I found these really cute plain gold earring forms - I only bought one pack, which was stupid stupid stupid.  I wish I had bought 3 or 4 packages so I could have made these for my entire team - but just never dreamed they would turn out this cute. 

 
Look at these little guys - aren't they cute?  These were made using our Candy Cane and Holly Jolly Holiday designer paper - I'm not much of one for jewelry - but I can guarantee that I will be wearing these.  To make these I simply punched a hole in the designer paper that matched the opening in the earring, which was about a 3/4" circle - then I punched a 1" circle around that - sort of off centering the punching so that the circle opening fit with the earring - then I dipped the paper in modge podge (you could use a glue paste) and slapped it on the earring - smoothing it out - Once that dried I coated it with our Crystal Effects to give it a smooth, glossy finish. These would be so cute in any of our designer papers - I stopped at the other craft store in our area yesterday while we were out but there were none like this to use .  Sorry about that teammates - these would have been really cute to give as gifts.  If you can't see them clear enough simply click on the picture - I forgot that I had adjusted the size to share this with the Remarkable group I am in and since everyone knows how slow my internet is - I didn't want to change back to fix this.  I was just thinking that I have a white bracelent somewhere I could probably cover with modge podge and designer paper to match also - hmmmm, must go see if I can find that bracelet. 

I did survive the day yesterday - but it was quite long - we did some Christmas shopping but I'm not close to being done and I positively hate shopping anymore.  House is still only partically decorated and my cards are 3/4 of the way done.  However, it looks as if the weather may give me a quite day Sunday and Monday - joy joy.  I'd rather have a busy day than more snow.  I'm going to cling to the hope that the weather man will be wrong again.  I have all kinds of big news going on here that I'm really excited about - but going to hold off on that to be sure every follows through.  Today I will be helping Miss Stephanie with her Christmas cards and then prepping for Miss Felicia's party tomorrow - here's hoping the weather holds until we can get everyone home safely from Genia's! Hope you all have a fun week-end.

Mondays Recovery

Whew - know I'm late today - but man, exhausted when I returned home yesterday - yes RAD is supposed to be rest and relaxation - but let me tell you - we don't "sleep"!!  We might rest but not sleep! So I slept for 10 hours - which is totally unheard of for me - but now I'm ready to roll today.  So thankful I left when I did because I drove through snow - but if I had waited  a few hours, like a usually do - I would have gotten more snow to have to thru.  Today I want to show you one of the items I made to take with me for show and share - left this one with Jan - it is a DVD tin.

 
The circle pieces on the front are actually magnets to move around on the front and then on the inside:

 
On the left hand side is a calendar and little notepad and on the right is our corkboard to make a little mom board for notes if you need to remember something (for me this should have been twice the size it is).  Nice little gift - I had several of these dvd tins left here at the house from where I had used them before on a class.

I have much to do today - making a grocery list and heading out in "snowland" then I am itching to get stamping - so so very many ideas for classes and camps that I can hardly stand it!!!  Enjoy your day wherever you are. 

A little Gift Giving

Well, I have several hostess events coming up in the next month and I need some inexpensive gift ideas so I've been working on that.  I'm still using my Christmas Decor Elements from the mini catalog and I have about 2 images left - these have really stretched far - I think I may order one more sheet just to have on hand because they are so terrific to dress up an inexpensive item.  I've done coffee mugs and "cookie plates" but today I needed something to give candy or snack mix in.   So while shopping at an area craft store (gasp) I whipped out my coupon and purchased this little jar for about $3, added some decor elements, some seam binding and a gift tag and filled it with popcorn - oh yeah - the good kind - the chocolate covered stuff! and ended up with this:

 
This is much cuter in person than it is in this picture - I would have preferred to have some of the cherry cobbler seam binding - but I've used it all up - not to worry - more is on the way, as well as vanilla!

Now the thing about this jar - even the back side is cute:

 
I would have preferred to use the cardinal - but then I'd have had to give him away and that is so not happening!  So I'll order another sheet and have some cardinal gifts for myself!!! This took such a small amount of time and my real plan is to make some peppermint bark candy and put in this jar for a gift - so it will look a lot nicer with the colorful candy in the jar - but it was still a little early for me to make that now for the gift giving that I'll be using it for. 

Now just a quick story to share - I also went to Home Depot yesterday, looking for some flashing for another project I'm working on - I hate going to these "male" stores because I'm always lost and spend a lot of time wandering trying to figure out which row I should go down.  However, yesterday I waltzed in the store and a gentleman about my age (not ancient but not young, either) was at the front of the store.  As I walked in with another couple, he immediately asked us if we needed help (this was a first for me) so ofcourse I said yes - told him I was looking for flashing - he stopped, directed me to the signs to follow - then took his little walkie talkie and told me he would have someone waiting for me when I arrived there - sure enough, as I scurried across the front of the store, before I could get there another young man came out to meet me asking if I was looking for flashing - he walked me right to the display and waited to be sure I was happy with it and understood the prices for the different sizes.  I thanked him profusely and headed to the check out - where a female was waiting (hallelujah) and asked if I'd found everything and was ready to check out - now I'm not kidding here - 5 minutes total - I had my flashing and was out of the store - HUGE kudos to Home Depot for being on the ball.  I don't know if this was seasonal or what - but I loved it - no time wasted, no time trying to find a clerk or the right department so you can bet this chick will be shopping at Home Depot again - I appreciate Customer Service because I know how important it is and Home Depot did a good job of it yesterday - will be interesting to see if it happens the next time I'm there.  That's all the bragging for the day - see you tomorrow.

Boat Loads of Fun

Now if you are having Boat Loads of Fun - you are having a lot of fun - so that should imply that there are going to be a Lot of things on here today - and there are!!!! First Off -

Now you probably think that this is a card - well, you would be wrong - this is a cover for more cards. 

I realize this is tricky to see and I just now thought that if I had put something darker in color behind this - it would have been easier to see - live and learn - you'll have to use your imagination!!!  This is two regular size envelopes glued together!  Simply place the flaps inside the top of the envelopes so that the two envelopes are joined - making it a pocket holder.  I used this at stamp camp a couple of years ago and completely forgot about it until fellow Remarkable Stamper, Kathy Johnson posted something this week using the two envelopes and so I just had to re-visit this idea.  Now inside the cutely decorated envelopes are two cards:

These are super super easy - the whole thing probably took less than a half hour to do - and what a cute gift this would make to give to someone. 

 

 

 

Just love these little fellows and ofcourse, yes, this set is retiring.  This will be one that

 

I will use myself long after it is gone from the catalog.  It's such a cute, upbeat set that gives a lift! 

 

Well, that is all for today - think that should keep everyone busy for the day! 

 I did get good news yesterday about my big old lug of a dog - had hubby take him to the vet because he had this awful spot on him - that I was betting was cancer (it's been one of those kind of months)  However, he just had some sort of infected boil and after shelling out a nice sum of money - he will be feeling better soon.  Yeah!! Poor guy - he's such a loveable thing I hate to see him feeling lousy.  Should be great fun giving him all this medicine.  No other farm news today - no turtles, no birds, all is quiet!!!  I think that has to do with all the rain - everything is in and quiet.  Have a great day and thanks once again for stopping by. 

Let's Straighten something out

Just so you know - I am posting and it is not 4 a.m. - even though it will indicate that it is, according to typepad!!!  I would love to be up and energetic at that hour - but I just don't think it is possible for my brain to work that early!!  You girls had me laughing as I read through the comments - I do accomplish a lot in any given day - guess it is that Type A personality that feels I have to accomplish something - the high risk creatures for heart attacks, high blood pressure, etc.  Or I could accredit that to my parents in constantly reminding me not to waste time - something they still do not do!  I'm just not sure our family is capable of sitting down and relaxing!  We always have to be doing something!  So rest assured - I do get sleep! 

Today's picture is the first off the construction ramp, which means it is the one used to work out all the difficulties and to get some ideas.  This is actually a sneak peek for the girls that will be hostesses in the months of February and March - during Sale a bration.  I realize it is really bright and I didn't think until after the fact that I should have dug out that photo manual and turned off the flash - cut you can at least see the general idea - this is a little tote and while I just pulled generic stuff I had on hand to try out this pattern, i.e. cards and note tablet, I'll be doing other things, other dsp and cardstock to decorate with for the hostess ladies.  However, I did not want to put those pictures up because then there would be no suprise when I handed them their gifts.  I can see that I need to make some sort of box for photographing images like this - I wanted to take this picture in my stamp room - but that was not humanly possible to find one clear spot in there this morning.  I had brought everything in from last night's demonstration at a local church group and just sit it on the tables, plus where I had been constructing this project - all the papers were still out and oh yes, there's stamp camp boxes stacked and ready to go for Thursday's stamp camp - that room is the Incredible Shrinking Room right now.  I must get it cleaned up though because someone is dropping by later today - so I will be working fast and furiously down there this morning. 

You know - I'm thinking that maybe just for a couple days a week - I SHOULD get up at that 4 a.m. and get something done early!!

I do have a question for you - several have commented both on here and to me personally about the pictures of the maple syrup - I would like your guesses - Janet, you can't participate in this one!  How many gallons of sugar sap do you think it takes to make one gallon of maple syrup?  Enter your guesses under the comments and I'll pick a winner - I doubt that any of you will even come close - that's MY guess - This won't be an exact number because it is different each year, due to moisture content in the trees, the weather, etc.  I'll give a couple of days on this because I know there are some who do not check this every day (gasp, does this mean they have a life?)  Hmmm, let's say by Friday morning. Then I'll put up the answer from my husband, based on here in W.Va.  Also - I will be posting another card later this afternoon, but going to use the help of my friend, Melanie when she drops by here later today.  It will be her card - so she can help me do the posting!!!  Remember to put your guesses - simply click on the comments and put that in - be adventurous - and yes, there really is a prize - and yes - it is something SU!  and yes - you will wish you had posted after the fact! Thanks for stopping by again.