Home for Christmas

Just a really quick post before I go off to work. This is my entry for the Papertrey Guest Star Stamper contest for December using the Timeless Template Home Made.

I had recently finished making gingerbread houses and I still had them in mind when I made this house. The roof and sidewalk are made using Cosmo Cricket ' By Golly' paper. The walk is lined with pure poppy buttons. The roof and ground are glittered with an assortment of Martha Stewart glitters to make it really sparkle. I wanted trees but I didn't have any that were the right scale and then I decided I could make my own using the tree image from Holiday Tree. I stamped several and glued them together so they would stand up on the base and then I decorated them with Class-A-Peels stickers.

I hope you like it! I will come back later and post the full list of supplies.

Kim

Gingerbread Dreams

One of my very favorite images from Holiday Button Bits is the little Gingerbread boy. I finally got my hands on some Cosmo Cricket By Golly paper and I thought that the peppermint paper would be the perfect addition to my Gingerbread and I love it!

The card layout is very simple. To vary it a little bit I punched 3/4 inch squares from the pepperminut paper and some ornament paper from SU! and placed those along the bottom edge of my card. In between the border the the image I tied a big fat bow with Pure Poppy ribbon topped off with a lovely vintage cream button. Not exactly flat for mailing like my other cards this year but I could not resist buttons on this card!

Less than 2 weeks until Christmas can you believe it! I have a few things to finish up in the gift giving department and oh yeah, one little small thing like decorating the house! I was sick Thanksgiving weekend and that put us seriously behind. My daughter likes to tell everyone that we don't have our tree up so we are fixing that today! And I only have a few Christmas cards done. I'm going to have to put in some late nights to get some more done asap and tomorrow is candy making day. I love making candy and giving away treats for the holidays. Recently I have enjoyed this more than making Christmas cookies but we may have to make a small batch for Santa on Christmas Eve.

Here is another of my favorite treats for the holidays. I am making some this weekend!

White Chocolate Party Mix

1 lb. white chocolate (I use Ghirardelli)

3 c. crispy rice cereal squares

3 c. crispy corn cereal squares

3 c. toasted oat cereal

2 c. think pretzel sticks

2 c. peanuts

1 (12oz) bag m&m's

Combine all ingredients except chocolate in a large bowl. Melt the white chocolate by your preferred method. Pour over cereal mix and stir to coat evenly. Spread the mix on wax paper to cool. Break in small pieces. Store in an airtight container. Refrigerate to keep fresh.

I am not a fan of white chocolate but I cannot get enough of this stuff. It has the perfect combination of sweet and salty!

Card supplies by Papertrey Ink unless noted: Stamps: Holiday Button Bits; Vintage Labels. Ink: Dark Chocolate, Close to Cocoa (SU!), Tea Dye Duo, Pure Poppy. Cardstock: Ripe Avocado, vintage cream, dp by SU! and Cosmo Cricket. Accessories: Pure Poppy double-stitched ribon, vintage buttons, rustick twine, copic markers, Labels One dies by Spellbinder.

Roll Out the Holly

The weeks are zipping by and as usual I am way behind on all of my crafting goals for the holidays. Here is another Christmas card using Holiday Button Bits.

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I'm trying to keep the cards relatively simple and flat this year to avoid having to use extra postage. Instead of buttons on this card I stamped the largest single polka dot stamp from Polka Dot Basics in Pure Poppy ink to make the holly berries and then I covered them with red stickles for some sparkle. The holly leaves were stamped an extra time, cut out and then popped up on dimensionals.

Since some expressed an interest in candy recipes, here is one for homemade Clark Bars. This is one of my favorites, passed down to me from my Mom, who always makes yummy candy at the holidays. Love you Mom! Yummmm!

Judy's Homemade Clark Bars

Ingredients:

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup white Karo syrup
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 cups peanut butter
• milk chocolate candy melts. A couple of bags will do you.

Directions:

Combine sugar, Karo syrup and water in a pan and place on stovetop. Heat to 290 degrees. While this is heating up spread your 2 cups of peanut butter into a black iron skillet. When the sugar mix reaches 290 degrees pour it over the peanut butter in your iron skillet and stir quickly. (I emphasize "quickly"). Spread it immediately onto a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan and score it with a pizza cutter. Let it harden for approximately 1 hour and then dip in melted chocolate. Place on wax paper to let the chocolate set and then store in an airtight container in a cool location. These keep very well. You can make them a couple of weeks before the holidays.

Tips: You do want to use an iron skillet. This stuff sets up very quickly so you have to stir FAST and then spread it FAST onto your cookie sheet. An extra set of hands will be invaluable. My husband helps me stir and he holds the skillet while I spread it onto the cookie sheet. If you score it with your pizza cutter it will break apart easily for dipping.

I hope you enjoyed the card and if you try the recipe I'd love to know how they turn out!

Thanks for stopping by,

Kim

Supplies (By PTI unless noted): Stamps: Holiday Button Bits, Polka Dot Basics, Signature Christmas, Vintage Labels. Ink: Dark Chocolate, New Leaf, Pure Poppy, Vintage Tea Dye Duo. Cardstock: Vintage Cream, New Leaf, Dark Chocolate, decorate paper by SU! Accessories: Spellbinders Labels 1 dies, glitter glue (Ranger), Border Punch (Martha Stewart), Cotton Trim (Joanns), Rustic Twine.

Time to Deck the Halls!

I have another Christmas card to share tonight. In contrast to my last post, this card has a much more rustic feel.

I kept the embellishments light so it would not be too lumpy and require extra postage. Instead of using buttons with the ornament toppers I used the lovely ornament (or bell) from Communique Curves and it fits beautifully! Instead of a big bow I just cinched up the ribbon with a little rustic twine. I will definitely be using that trick again. And I LOVE Dawn McVey's Signature Christmas sentiments!

I am very excited for Christmas this year. Having a 2 and 1/2 year old has definitely restored some of the wonder of Christmas. I need to start cranking out the Christmas cards and I'm starting my candy making this weekend. Maybe I will share some of my favorite candy recipes. If that interests you let me know.

Thanks for stopping by!

Kim

Stamps: Holiday Button Bits, Communique Curves, Signature Christmas. Ink: Ripe Avocado, Pure Poppy, Plum Pudding, Dark Chocolate, Vintage Tea Dye Duo. Cardstock: Rustic White, Ripe Avocado, Wassail dp (Basic Grey). Accessories: Ripe Avocado double-stitch ribbon, rustic twine. All supplies are by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.