Christmas Cards

I decided to make my Christmas cards this year without purchasing paper. Tammy, if you are reading this, you are not getting a sneak peak at your card~I made one special for you. It was a challenge, but I did it! I did get the stamp I used on the inside, but it was at a used stamp sale and was super cheap. So I used the paper I had on hand and went to work on a design. I came up with the cards below (well, this is a sampling, as I didn't include them all). The poinsetta is from Penny Duncan of Penny Duncan's Creations (yes, it's free). I did use less petals than she has in the file, because I liked the simplistic look (and I was making lots of them). There is a close up below. All of the flowers were cut in white and I inked and glimmer misted them myself (something newish for me, so I was kinda surprised at how much I liked them). It took forever for the bows to look half way decent, I hope they don't untie in the mail!

Simple and sweet, but I like them!

Different Kind of Creative

My creativity of late has been more trying to work, sleep, clean the house and have dinners on the table every other night or so. It takes a little bit of creativity to get that all going :)

A large part of the hassel has been relieved by a wonderful site: www.moneysavingmom.com While I am not a mother, this site posts deals from various stores, freebie alerta, great coupon links, recipes and frugal ways to do just about anything! I made apple butter a couple of weeks ago following the crockpot recipe on the site and my was it good (and frugal!) Just last night I saved $51 on my groceries by using techniques learned on her blog. Couponing isn't rocket science, you just have to understand how it works!

Crystal has a book she wrote called The Money Saving Mom®’s Budget, right now it is just for preorder, I think it comes out mid January. It is only $11, so it won't break the bank. If saving money is something you are striving for, I definately reccomend getting this book! And by letting others know about it, you can get a free ebook about freezer cooking. What a great deal, right?!

Quick Thanks

A quick thank you to all who entered the Satin Hands Giveaway. Tanya was the winner, congrats!

New Blog

I've found a new blog to follow, Kaysi is awesome at all things crafty! Her blog is awesome and she has agreed to do a Mary Kay giveaway with me on her blog, so be sure to hop over for a chance to win a free Satin Hands Set by Mary Kay. It's awesome-trust me!

Recipes 2

If you are thinking, mmm, this looks familiar, then you saw my Recipes 1 post back in spring. My husband and I have our last wedding of the year (this will be #5, 3 that he has been in) coming up next week. This is a part of their gift (I'm still contemplating the other part). The colors are much more 'true' on the second picture.


The light pink and green in the patterned paper are very close to her wedding colors--I guess their wedding colors, but I'm pretty sure he didn't choose them :)


Since I've done this project before, please see my previous post for all the details on how it was made and who's free SVG files I used~because they were all free :) Really the only thing I did differently was used a VersaMark Pen to wet emboss (rather than a VersaMark Ink Pad), it just made it less 'messy' and I put rhinestones on the letters. For those of you without a cutting machine, you can replicate this easily. Follow the above link, click on the tutorial. I only used my cricut to decorate, so it can easily be done without!



One of the neat things about this is I share one or two of our favorite recipes for each section, so the newlyweds get tried and true (and easy!) recipes.

Its been awhile since I've done any challenges but here goes:
All Sorts- anything but a card
Do You Stack Up- Emboss it- I wet and dry embossed!

A different type

A different type of creativity. This summer I've been being creative in coming up with things for the family I nannied for. This is one of the activities we did that was super fun. Edible Playdough! Yes, I know, not typically what you see here. But it was loads of fun and when the kids ate it, I didn't have to worry about it (and it is quite yummy, actually)!

Using everyday cooking items to enhance the fun!
Looking for a recipe? It is super easy! 1 cup of powdered sugar, 1 cup of peanut butter, 1/2 cup honey. Mix together. More powdered sugar can be added if it isn't "doughy" enough (I think I added a bit more).

The only downfall to this recipe is that it becomes sticky if played with too long. I recommend chilling in the fridge for a half hour before letting the kids play, they could play much longer this way :)

New Challenge

There is a New Challenge over at Paper This and That-perfect theme for August-Back to School. Check it out HERE!