New Product Shares!

If you are as mad about ribbon as I am, you are going to LOVE the new collection in the Occasions Mini (debuting January 4th).  Not only has Stampin' Up come out with their much beloved Seam Binding Ribbon in POOL PARTY, but they have also released a pleated 5/8" satin!  That's right!  It's to die for.

The thing about ribbon however, is that most people don't need 10 yards of the same colour.  That's where I come in.  I'm offering shares on the new papers, buttons, and ribbons offered in the mini.



First off is the ribbon share -  This share includes 1 yard of each of the pleated satin ribbons (4 yards total) and 2 yards of the Pool Party seam  binding.  COST:  $11 (+ $2.00 shipping CAN, $2.50 US)

Buttons anyone?  This share includes 3 each of the 4 styles.  COST: $2.50 (+ $1.00 shipping CAN, $2.00 US)

Baker's Twine.  This includes 5 yards of each of the 5 colours for 25 yards total.  COST: $5.00 (+ $1.00 shipping CAN/US)

Designer Series Paper:  Three shares available here, each including twelve 6 X 6 pieces (one 6 X 6 of each design).  COST: Twitterpated & Attic Boutique each $5.00 -  Sweet Shop $6.00 (+ $1.50 shipping CAN, $2.50 US)

COMBINED SHIPPING: 

I can fit all of the non-paper shares together for total shipping price of $2.00 CDN ($3.00 to the US).

If you would like to participate in all of the shares, please contact me about shipping.

I accept paypal for these shares, or email money transfers from fellow Canadians.

These shares will ship on January 11th.

Please email me with your orders:  mrslangton@shaw.ca

A La Card Monkey Sketch

As I sat looking out into my backyard this morning sipping a cup of Christmas Blend (and a touch of Hazelnut syrup), I thought about how much I love winter in the Cariboo.  I don't love that it lasts until April, but winter here, cold as it may be, is still sunny.  There are only a few inches of snow in the yard right now, and it's definitely chilly, but the sun is shining as brightly as it does on any day in July.  The smell of wood stoves is drifting through the neighbourhood, and I'm getting set to haul out the ornaments and put the tree up.

I wanted to make another Christmas card (my list seems to be getting longer each time I look at it) but wasn't feeling terribly inspired.  I headed over to the Card Monkey blog and used it to get the juices flowing.  I don't love Riding Hood Red, so I felt like I needed to give it a chance to shine.  I think it worked out quite well with this little sketch.

Inspiration Kimono

After a four hour card buffet yesterday I came home, made dinner, and plopped down on the couch to watch a movie.  Since my husband was out of town for the evening, I decided on Memoirs of a Geisha.  The book is absolutely amazing, and the movie is quite good also.  Though it isn't exactly true to the novel (really though, what movie is?), the stunning visuals of the film more than make up for what is lost in translation to screenplay.

I actually paused the movie after this scene to go and make this card.  It's wayyyyyyyy off of what I would usually make, but I love it.  It makes me wish I had a kimono to wear.

More Wreaths

This month my stampers club is making wreaths using our gorgeous Christmas papers.  Here are a couple of examples that I'm bringing for inspiration.

This one's not lit very well - sorry!

One More

Ok, I thought I was done with the Christmas cards.  Guess not.  My husband was up at 2:20 this morning to drive down to Kelowna for a course, and naturally, I had a hard time getting back to sleep.  So what did I do?  Went to the happy place (aka - craft room).

I'm having a card buffet with the ladies that I work with this morning, so I have all of their packages made up nicely, ready to go.  I wanted to throw in one more, so here's what came out of my brain this morning.

The first version was with Pear Pizzazz and Early Espresso, but it just wasn't doing it for me.  Crumb Cake and Chocolate Chip fixed that one.  I brayered the CC ink onto the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder and then ran a piece of Very Vanilla through it.  I've only done this technique with coloured cardstock before, and the result with the thinner Vanilla was quite a bit different.  The coverage isn't quite as uniform, and I think it looks antiquey (pretty sure that's not a word).  Then I layered it all together and punched the ornament through all three layers so you could see through to the inside.  I had a heck of a time finding my Stampamajig, but it finally showed up.  You really need it for this one so that you can line up the ornament stamp on the inside correctly.

I still wasn't totally happy with it at that point, so I gave it a little shimmer spray, and outlined the ornament with glass glitter.  Much better.  This photo doesn't really do the card justice (the lighting here this morning isn't great), but the card is very lovely in person.

A Better Way

I called in sick to work today.  I've had a nasty bug for a few weeks that I can't seem to shake, so I decided that I would take the day off and try to rest.  I slept late, lay on the couch with a book drinking tea, had a semi-nap...  Now what?  One side of me tried to talk myself into doing some work (I have a pile of essays that need marking), but the side that knows the weekend's coming up said, "Just do it on Saturday," and won.

So here I am in the craftroom - what a surprise.  After looking around on Pinterest and my bookmarked blogs, I realized I have no reason for my room to be such a mess any more.  For the past few weeks I've been letting it slide, justifying the mess by saying that I am preparing for the craft fair.  Well, the last one was 2 weeks ago.  Time to get my butt in gear.  So, in great procrastinator form, I decided that organizing my scrap bin was priority #1.  Never mind the piles of things placed around the edges of my craft space - those can wait.

When I'm done working on a project or come home from a workshop, all of my scraps go into a huge rubbermaid drawer.  It's about 24" wide, 7" high, and about 9" deep.  There is a LOT of room in there.  I really didn't want to deal with it, and contemplated throwing the whole thing in the fire that's raging in the wood stove, but I thought better of it.  I decided that I would pull out all of the pieces that I had cut to card size and score them, and then put them in a nice little box, ready to go.  This took care of quite the pile (that's the bottom row in the pic).  Then I still had a lot of papers that has pieces punched out or cut away, making it useless as a card, but perfect for making base layers out of.  So then I cut as much as I could into 4 X 5.25 pieces.  Wow.  There were a lot of these (top row in the pic).

So then I was left with 489 little pieces.  If it was smaller than 3" square, it went in the fire.  Now I just have a nice little box of scraps (white and vanilla have their own box), and I have learned a good lesson:  Cut your extra pieces into matting layers before throwing them into the scrap bin.  This will save you time in the end, and keep your drawer nice and tidy.  Pat on the back for me.  

Now, I think, would be a good time to re-alphabetize my bookshelves...

Marvelous Markers Event

Black Friday?  How depressing.  How about Rainbow Sunday?  That's better.  Either way, I'm offering a deal you won't be able to refuse on these amazing markers.  

The Stampin' Write markers are a must-have for taking your cards to the next level.  So what's stopping you from getting them?  I know - the price tag.  To get the full set (Subtles, Brights, Regals, Neutrals) as well as the new In Colours, would cost $199.46.  WOAH!  That's hefty.  I can see why you don't have them - yet.

This is where my deal comes in.  For $145 you will receive the Marvelous Markers set (all 4 collections) as well as the 2011 - 2013 In Colours.  This is a savings of more than $50.  This price is all inclusive, no additional tax or shipping costs.

If you'd like to take advantage of this amazing deal,  please email me today.  Hurry though - this offer is only good until December 2nd!

I accept payments through Paypal.  This offer is valid for Canadian mailing addresses only.

This morning as the snow came down in an almost blizzard-like rate, I sat at my table looking out and decided that I'd finish making my Christmas cards today.  I've been meaning to try making an easel card for quite some time, but hadn't quite gotten around to it.

I ordered myself a package of Holly Berry Suite DSP once I finally realized that I really like it.  It seemed to call to me from the box.  Since I need really nice cards for the parents, I thought this would be the occasion to spend a little more effort on a few cards.

Here it is!  After a little bit of fidgeting trying to get just the right measurements, it turned out really well!  The only thing is, now I want to keep it!  It took me almost an hour from start to finish to make this one, so I hope the recipient likes it as much as I do!

Not Bad for a First Time

This morning and the snow came down in an almost blizzard-like rate, I sat at my table looking out and decided that I'd finish making my Christmas cards today.  I've been meaning to try making an easel card for quite some time, but hadn't quite gotten around to it.

I ordered myself a package of Holly Berry Suite DSP once I finally realized that I really like it.  It seemed to call to me from the box.  Since I need really nice cards for the parents, I thought this would be the occasion to spend a little more effort on a few cards.

I seem to be on a kick making things out of scraps.  This is a little silly since I have about 400 full size sheets of paper that I still need to use (and I keep buying more - as though I might run out soon).  I found this card on another SU! demo's website and knew I had to make it.  Check our her blog for a video on how to do the pinwheel.  You're just layering the pieces on top of each other, but I'm too lazy to type it all out when you can read about it on her site.

I wasn't crazy about the plain background of the original card, so I pulled out En Francais (it never fails to impress me with its beauty).  I stamped the entire image with Riding Hood Red, and then took Cherry Cobbler and patted it around a little, finishing with a few pats of Early Espresso.  I love the way the colours blend together and flow like the script.

Paper:  Early Espresso, Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla, Holly Berry Bouquet, Glimmer paper
Ink:  Early Espresso, Riding Hood Red, Cherry Cobbler
Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes, En Francais
Extras:  Bird punch, Modern label punch, Word Window punch

Please Forgive Me

I know it's only November, but I've got Christmas on my mind.  My past 3 workshops have been full of Christmas cards, and I have my final craft fair of the season coming up next weekend, so there's lots of Christmas crafting going on here at the Langton residence.  I've seen these gifts a million times over the years, but this is the first time I've made them.  I must say, I wish I had done this sooner.  I'm going to bring some to the fair next weekend, but I think I'll make up some more to give out as gifts this year.  Yes, Jen, I will make you one.  (Jen, my very best friend for the past 18 years, sucks at baking.  What better gift?  Just add the wet stuff and bake!)

You could go to town decorating the jar if you wanted to, but I'm pretty happy with just the tag (underneath the paper are the instructions, as well as the ingredients).

Feeling crafty?  Here's the recipe.  It fits perfectly into the 1L canning jars, but you REALLY have to squish the layers down to get it all in.  Make sure you tap the jar on the counter several times once the flour's in to let it settle.  Then once you get the brown sugar in, squish your heart out.  I found a vitamin container that fit in the mouth of the jar to do the main compressing, and then used a spoon to get in the edge.

1st layer:  1 1/3 c flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt.  Mix these in a bowl and then pour into jar.  (Don't forget to tap!)

2nd layer: 1 c oats (the nice big fat ones, not the quick type)

3rd layer:  3/4 c m&ms or Smarties

4th layer: 3/4 c chocolate chips (since the m&ms clearly weren't enough)

5th layer:  1/2 c brown sugar (SQUISH SQUISH SQUISH!)

6th layer:  1/2 c white sugar

7th layer:  1/4 c or so pecan pieces

Directions:

 Preheat Oven

to 350 degrees.

Stir dry ingredients in

a large bowl and add:

1/2 cup butter, (almost melted)

1 slightly beaten egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine Thoroughly.

Roll into 1 1/2 inch balls &

Bake for 10 minutes.

Hopefully you can just copy and paste those into Word and print them off.  They fit nicely into a Spellbinder die.

VERY IMPORTANT!  When you're buying the m&ms, buy more than what you think you need.  Somehow they seemed to disappear while I was making these jars.  And I ended up with a red tongue.  Weird.

Winter Post

I love this set.  I neglected it for a little while, but now it fills my thoughts.  I really like this colour pallet for a vintage feel, and think the frayed ribbon tops it off really nicely.  I've seen a bunch of cards that have tags on the front, and thought it was high time for me to try one as well.

 

It was a little serendipitous that I happened to be using this set this morning.  We've got a nice layer of fresh powdery snow and Lily (my dog) was outside romping around in it.  She started running back and forth across the back patio and barking like crazy, but not her usual "Here comes the garbage man" bark.  It was more like "Woah!  What the heck!"  So I got up from my table and looked out the front to see if there were kids on the street.  Nope.  No car either.  No neighbour shoveling his driveway.  It was a mystery.  That is, until I looked down at the freshly fallen snow and saw little deer prints across the yard, along our pathway, and right in front of the fence.

There's something magical about living in the country.

Photo Gifts

I find that at Christmas I like to give family members a nice photo of me & the fam, but I think giving a frame each year is a little much.  Really, how many framed photos does my best friend want of me?  Here's my solution.

This is a huge clothespin (the photo is a standard 4X6 to give you an idea of scale).  My good friend Modpodge makes an appearance here in adhering and sealing the paper to the peg.  Add a little stamped image and some bling and you're ready to rock and roll.  I found the pegs at a little store in town, and used some scrap paper to cover it up.  Cute, fast, inexpensive, and your friends can change out the picture whenever they want.

ps) The good looking dog in the photo is my dad's German Shepherd, Panzer.  He's about the sweetest dog you'll ever meet.  My so-ugly-you're-cute dog, Lily (she's a boxer), will make an appearance sometime later next week.

Last night I had one of my stampers club meetings and we made the cards from the previous post.  After a tiring week of kids' classes, it was exactly what I needed to feel crafty for myself again.  So this morning, after a cup of tea and some blog surfing, I put together this little baby.  I copied this from Robin Merrimen, who got it from a magazine.  I love the simplicity of it.  I ordered a package of the Brushed Silver cardstock and have been waiting to try it out.  True love!

Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Brushed Silver, Whisper White
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler
Stamps:  Season of Joy
Extras:  Northern Flurry EF, Oval punch, Scallop Oval punch, Cherry Cobbler quilted satin ribbon

Spare Time?

It's fall break.  That means that I have a week off.  What I should be doing with my time is marking essays, reading some good books, drinking lots of tea, taking long baths, etc.  What am I doing instead?  Having classes and making stuff for ANOTHER craft fair.  This past weekend I had craft fair 2 of 3.  It went pretty well and I made enough money to not feel so bad about spending $250 on more stamps and supplies for myself.

In the past 2 weeks I've done 3 workshops, 2 kids classes, a craft fair, have more workshops tomorrow and Thursday morning, as well as my monthly stampers club on Thursday night.  And I have 4 teenagers and an 8 year old girl coming with their moms to make altered journals at my house tomorrow night.  

So this afternoon I sat down to work out what cards my monthly stampers were going to make.  I discovered that I have used up all of my white cardstock, and have a very limited amount of vanilla remaining.  Oh.  Crap.  Time for a challenge!  Who needs Connie and Mary, or Mojo Monday when I can whip up a challenge for myself anyways?  (It doesn't matter that it was out of necessity, it's still a challenge.)  How can I make 3 different Christmas cards with no neutral stamping base...  And here's what I got!

The top card is actually a piece of vellum over a layer of Bashful Blue.  You can't really tell here, but I've also added some Dazzling Diamonds to bling it up a little.

The second card makes me want white brownies with white chocolate chips and cranberries.  It's an emboss-o-rama (both the snowflakes and the greeting are heat embossed with white & Cherry Cobbler).

This final one is my favourite.  The picture in no way does it justice, so please copy it and make one for yourself so you can see how exquisite it is.  The embossed tree gives it some nice texture and looks sort of vintage.  (Learn how to selectively emboss here .)  I added some rhinestones to give it a little sparkle, and used the Winter Post set to add some lovely vintage images to match the feeling of the tree.  I worked in a Christmas store when I first moved out of the house, and there was a room with a decadent tree covered in gold and pink ornaments.  I like pink, but not enough to have a tree covered in it, but this fulfills my need.  However, I like it so much that I don't really want to give it away now.

CARD 1:
Paper:  Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, Vellum
Ink:  Bashful Blue
Stamps:  Winter Post
Extras:  Northern Flurry EF, Organza ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds

CARD 2:
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip  (that sounds rather yummy...)
Ink:  Versamark
Stamps:  Snow Swirled, Four the Holidays
Extras:  White embossing powder, Cherry Cobbler embossing powder, Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon

CARD 3:
Paper:  Soft Suede, Blushing Bride, Very Vanilla
Ink:  Soft Suede, Blushing Bride
Stamps:  Winter Post
Extras:  Petals a Plenty EF

Wreath-o-holic

I saw these little buggers on a few blogs a while back, and just didn't have the time to put one together.  This weekend, however, I found some time and made these little babies up.  I'm actually quite delighted by the final product.

Though I took the lazy route and used the Tim Holtz rosette dies, you could make these using just a scoring board and a tool.  It would take quite a bit longer, but they're worth it.  The colour on thesepics isn't great since it was night time when I got around to photographing these, but they really are quite gorgeous.  You could switch out the paper and make them for any occasion.

Illusions of Grandeur

My best friend was here for the Thanksgiving weekend and we got a night sans enfants.  This is a very rare happening (the first time ever, actually) so what did we do with our time?  That's right.  We brewed a pot of coffee and stayed up late crafting.  (Sadly, my idea of late is about 10:30.)

Along with a barrage of Christmas cards, I knew I wanted to try and make something different for a couple of craft fairs I've got coming up next month.  After some surfing on Pinterest, this is what I found.   Kojo Designes - Tea Wreath.  Sadly, my attempt at this unique project didn't turn out.  My measurements were funny and it was approximately the size of Bolivia - not exactly suitable for hanging in the kitchen of an ordinary home.  Had it turned out even remotely like the one I found, it would have been making it's way to my lovely tea-lover cousin.  However, I decided that I would save myself from being the target of sniggers, and my cousin from pitying looks and rip it apart to make something else.  Fear not, dear readers, I will ride again.  Just not today.

What the heck does this have to do with anything?  Well, I tore the pins off of the wreath (yes, it was satisfying) and thought they would make cute magnets.  I cut a little strip of cardstock and stuck 2 pegs together and then added a heavy-duty magnet to that layer.  One peg wasn't quite wide enough to really hold the magnet, or show off this glorious paper.  I've put them in groups of three and am planning on giving a few sets to my colleagues (teachers love magnets) and wrapping the rest up for the craft fair.

Sooner Than You Think

This afternoon I was supposed to have a workshop, but the hostess got sick and cancelled on me.  At first I was a little disappointed but then I realized that it would give me a whole day to make cards.  Spare time has been a little scant in my life as of late, so I was happy for the change in plans.

I have a Christmas card buffet coming up next weekend and I wanted to have a few more styles added to the pile.  Here's what I came up with this morning.  Not too bad for a couple hours and a few cups of coffee.

Stamps:  Dasher, Season of Joy, Pennant Parade, Four the Holidays

Yes, I am the worst blogger ever.  As soon as real life starts, blogging gets dumped.  Spring break?  Great time for blogging.  Long weekends?  Also great.  Summer holidays?  When could be a better time to devote myself to regular posts.  Back to work in September? .....  Is that the sound of crickets I hear?  Might as well be.

In between going back to work, teaching a new course, prepping for craft fairs, and putting on workshops, I have had very little time for blogging.  My apologies to anyone in cyberspace that actually gives a you-know-what.  But, here I am, cramming in a post when I really want to be cramming baked goods into my mouth while sitting in front of the fireplace watching The Borgias.

Last weekend I had an awesome workshop with all new ladies, and had a blast.  We were quite the bunch.  Lots of giggles and some beautiful cards were the result of our morning.  These are 2 of the cards we created.

The first one was really the first time I'd attempted emboss reveal on such a large scale.  I love how the white medallion stands out against the Island Indigo.  It's a little hard to see the background image that lies beneath the medallion, but it's lovely French script, courteousy of En Francais.  I inked EF in Daffodil Delight and stamped the image.  Then I inked the heck of of the Medallion with Versamark (wonder-ink extraordinaire).  After that it took a little plunge into come clear embossing powder and ran over it with my heat tool.  I used a brayer to ink the rest of the card, and wiped off the Medallion when I was satisfied with my coverage.

This card was a snap to put together.  I don't think it really needs any explanation, but I guess you could do some stamping on the Crumb Cake if you really wanted to.  I didn't.  Obviously.

Stamps:  Medallion, En Francais
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Island Indigo
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Island Indigo, Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Wiseria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, First Edition DSP
Extras:  Clear embossing powder, heat tool, Fun Flowers die, Crumb Cake buttons, Wisteria Wonder ruffled ribbon, hemp twine

Table Favours

This weekend my favourite cousin came down to hang out and help me get some stuff ready for the craft fair.  (It's next weekend - ask me if I'm ready.  The answer is no.)  Along with helping me Mod Podge about 4000000 tiles, she helped me cut and stick together these cute little place savers for Thanksgiving dinner. I really liked this idea, so I thought I'd go to the trouble of showing you how to do it.  You're welcome.  If anyone actually tried making these as a result of this post, please leave me a comment!

Step 1:  Cut a piece of pretty paper 5 1/4 X 4 1/4 and attach a sticky strip along the shorter side.

Step 2:  Use a punch of your choice to make a window at the half way mark of the long side.  You want the window to be about 1/3 of the way into the short side so that when you pinch the ends it has room.

Step 3:  Attach a piece of clear plastic behind your window (I got mine from a craft store, but I think you could use overhead transparencies as well) on the OPPOSITE side of the sticky tape.  (Tape on front, plastic on back.)

Step 4:  Remove the backing from the tape and roll your paper up into a tube, using the tape to adhere the sides together.

Step 5:  Line up the window so it's in the middle (your seam should be right underneath it).  Pinch the sides together and create a crease about 1cm long.  Attach a piece of sticky tape in here and close it up.

Step 6: On the other end, pinch the ends together in the opposite direction.  In the above photo, I've pinched together the horizontal sides.  For the other end I pinch together the vertical sides.  Apply sticky tape, but don't close it yet.  Fill with goodies and then tape shut.

Embellish however you like!

Tiles Tiles Everywhere

Ok, so here's my post about these awesome tiles.  This is definitely not my creation, but I'm too lazy to find where the idea came from, and I'm sure about 500 other people have also posted about it, so whatever.

You will need the stuff in the picture above (Modgepodge, 4 x 4 tiles - glossy finish is just fine, 3.75 x 3.75 pieces of scrapbooking paper, a sponge brush, acrylic sealer, and some felt for the backs).  Extra tools include cup of tea, stack of cookies to dip in tea, and chocolates to nibble on once your cookies run out and you're still waiting for things to dry.

Cut up your paper (I did mine in sets of 6 - 2 pieces of coordinating paper will give you 3 sets of coasters) and lay down some newspaper so you don't wreck the place.

Using your sponge brush, cover the surface of the tile with MP.  Don't be skimpy on this layer since you really need the paper to stick so it doesn't lift up.  That said, be sensible.  It shouldn't look like the kids from the daycare next door are making these things.

Once you've covered your tile with the MP, line up your paper so that all sides are even.  Gently press down on your paper and then starting from one corner, apply pressure with your fingers so that the paper is applied evenly, and there are no air bubbles.  Air bubbles = headache and cursing later on.

After the paper's down, put on another layer of MP.  Once this dries, you're going to do another layer or two, depending on how ambitious you are.  On the second layer, you'll be able to see the MP a little bit, but it dries clear, so don't freak out.  Again, I'll remind you that it shouldn't look like a four year old is in charge though.

Once your MP is dry (I left mine over night just to be sure) apply a nice generous coating of acrylic sealer to your tiles.  They should be nice and shiny.  Don't skimp here either.  The bottle is about $10 and it will easily cover about 150 tiles.  This is the layer that makes them water resistant.

Make sure that you spray your tiles in a place that you can leave them over night.  The can I used said you could handle them within an hour, but I'm not taking any chances.

After you're sure the sealer is dry, apply felt backing so they don't scratch up your table.  I bought the sheets of sticky-backed  stuff at Wal Mart for about $4, and cut it into 3x3 pieces.  One package took care of 60 coasters.  Once you're done, tie 'em up with a pretty bow and voila!  Instant present.

You can go gonzo like I am and make a whole lot in one sitting and then give them to everyone that you know for Christmas.  Of you can be like an ordinary person and just make a few for some close friends.

Oh, speaking of paper.  The thicker paper required more layers of MP than the thin stuff did.  

Hope you like this one!