Saturday, December 22, 2012

Naughty or Nice...


In the top spot on my "NAUGHTY" list...
The Discovery Channel Store.
Do not attempt to order anything from them
that claims to be in stock
a month before Christmas
and expect to get it.
Never mind that their site promises
your order to go out
within 2-3 business days.
It won't.
And don't expect polite service
when you call.
I lost my serenity.
'Nough said.
 
On top of my "NICE" list
Amazon.
AMAZING....Amazon!
Everything I ordered
came quickly.
In fact
I ordered a book yesterday morning
and by mid-afternoon
I had an e-mail confirming
it had shipped!!!
 
I got another NICE surprise yesterday...
I had made a quick stop at McDonald's drive thru
and when I got to the window to pay
I was told the driver in front of me
had paid for my meal and said
Merry Christmas.
I was able to then pay
for the person behind me.
As luck would have it
all three of us ended up waiting on our orders
and some waving and hand shaking went on.
Some CHRISTmas cheer was spread through the
drive thru yesterday---
even the window worker was smiling!
I wonder how many times
it went down the line...?!
Nice.
 
Time for another cup of coffee
maybe a little more shut eye
and a day of odds and ends of
cleaning and organizing.
At a relaxed pace.
 
Until next time,
happy stamping and scrapping!
Blessings,
 
 
 
 


Saturday, December 15, 2012

The Elf Has Been Busy!

Not many posts of late...
and probably not a lot more in the near future...
but I have been busy, busy, busy!
 
First up...
making goodies for the preschoolers!
 
I try and give them something "Santa-ish"
along with something to bring the
Jesus is the reason for the season
emphasis as well.
Using a CTMH stamp set--
I created these little tags to go on
little goodie bags.
 
 
For the girls...
 I colored their elves in pink and green
and the boys in red and green...
The "treats" are Christmas wrapped Hershey Kisses...
ELF KISSES of course!
I work in the church office
and the kids come to visit me
so I thought the reference to Santa's
Special Office Elf might be fun...
after all---my goddaughter still believes
I am a REAL flower fairy--
that's my story and I am sticking to it!
 
All the tags...
hand-stamped and hand-colored with Copics
Yep.
All 21 of them!
And of course...pop-dotted onto the top of the tag!
 
Onto the
"Jesus is the reason" part of my gift...
again...

21 hand-stamped, hand-colored with Copics

ornaments.
 
They are plastic--
I stamped the image on vellum,
put it inside with some silver and blue glitter,
used super sticky double-sided tape to tape that top on
and then hot-glued the bow on
when I discovered that the little metal loop
to hang them with
pulls right out of that top!
Hot glue stopped that-literally!
Given one youngin decided to eat the
birdseed treat I gave them a year or so ago to give to the birds...
I'd rather be safe than sorry!


 After that...
came their teacher gifts...
 
My friend Theresa had made these adorable
pocket Kleenex covers (bottom right)

and I decided on a bottle of hand sanitizer
to go with them...
preschool---germs---Kleenex and germ killer
who can't use that?!
Of course the hand-sanitizer bottles I found
were bigger than what all the templates out there called for
and of course even tho Theresa made those too,
I didn't get the bright idea to add them until last minute.
So then I needed something to put them in.
I started at Splitcoast...and ended at Splitcoast!
What I ended up with is called
a box in a bag
and you can find the how-to here

They are super-super easy
and one can be made with one double-sided
piece of paper!!!
The bottom is a mm, 3 1/2x 3 1/2 " box
that is only 1" deep
and then you attach the paper to it
to make it like a gift bag!

There are mainly women teachers
but we do have a dad who subs from time to time
so I made one for him just in case...
looks a little more manly--a lot less fru-fru...!
And, for my groupies who think everything
Theresa and I do comes out perfect the first try...
that band around the top...
was because in trying to set the eyelets with the Crop-a-dile
I accidentally punched two holes on the front AND the back
of the bag!
Grrr!
Plan B.
No one knows the difference...well--
not 'til I told, anyway! 

 
Last but not least today
is the infamous Christmas card for our vet's office.
(I am told they fight over who gets to open the Russell card!)
I was really in a quandary this year
as my "kids" were exceptionally good this year...
Poppa Cat didn't break any equipment
or run off with the thermometer cover in his butt,
Inky didn't have to be chased and corralled by
two vet techs and the vet
nor did he eat anything he wasn't supposed to
(namely Christmas tree, bushes, etc);
Ms. Dolly was purrfect-don't think she even had to go this year
and Bad Cat
(who is really the GOOD Russell cat...!)
was good, too.
Whew!
So there were no antics to write about...
and no groveling I had to do
(trust me, I've been afraid they'd ban us from the practice!)
and I was just stumped.
Until I started cleaning the craft room
and I found the little CTMH spring things...
that I used to make wobble head cards.
BINGO!
 
Here's what I came up with...
First up-Bad Cat----

followed by Poppa Cat and Inky
next Ms. Dolly on the left
and Moe (our outside feral cat) and us on the end.
As you can see---
I printed their photos twice...
layered one on card
and trimmed the head out on the other.
Added the little spring mechanism
and each of their heads now wobble
as they you imagine they warble
We Wish You a Merry Christmas!
I tried to add a video---Blogger not cooperating...

I will hand-deliver it on Monday
with something sweet to go with it.
 
Whew!
I am worn out just from blogging about all that!
 
Thanks for looking.
Not sure what I will be cooking up next-
oh-wait--cooking?
Did I ever post my recipe swap pages?
Hmm...have to check on that.
 
For now,
I need to go get ready for my date with hubby
to the Christmas musical at the Amuzu.
 
Until next time,
happy stamping and scrapping!
Blessings,