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