Christmas Cards 2015

I had a thought that I would give up the Christmas Cards throughout the year UNTIL I sent out my cards this past December.
I had them all prepared - signed and sealed - ready to go.  All I had to do was address them (didn't use printed labels this year), and stick on the return address labels and stamps.
After all the other work I did, it was a HUGE time saver for me!

 So, on I go, merrily making my Christmas cards all year long.  It's probably not possible that I'll stick with the 5th as I've always done, but I still plan to get 6 cards done, and I DO plan to continue with Christmas in July, and make one (a different design) for each day of the month.

Aren't those bows adorable?  It's the new bow punch available in the Spring Occasion catalog!  I used some of my old favorites, Be Of Good Cheer DSP, and my very favorite Merry Christmas stamp.

January 2015 = 6 Christmas Cards

13 Thank You's

I received some wonderful gifts, and needed to send out some Thank you cards.

I found this idea on Pinterest, and made a few changes.

 Stamp Set:  Work of Art, and Lots of Thanks
Ink colors:  (left)  Pacific Point  (right)  Bermuda Bay

 Ink colors:  (left)  Melon Mambo,  (right) Daffodil Delight
below, on the top left, Blushing Bride.

I really loved this design, and I hope you do as well.

Sister's Birthday Card

 This is the birthday card I made for my sister this year.
I used two of the new butterfly die cuts and layered them.

 I used many of my favorite card backgrounds - Gorgeous Grunge, and the punch layering I discovered recently.

I do hope that when she finally receives it, she likes the card.  Her favorite color is purple, so I hope it does the trick!

Christmas Cookies 2014

When we finally began Christmas vacation on the 19th of December, I started baking.  My goal was to have everything done and ready to go for December 24th to deliver gifts of cookies and candy to the neighbors.
I made it, but not without some anxiety!  I had some new cookie cutters this year, and wanted to try them out in addition to some of my favorites.

 I also found some new sprinkles...  Christmas lights!  I'm a sucker for Christmas lights...  Love them!

 This is one of the many cookies I made from the kit "Ugly Sweater Cookies".  I used my own dough, but bought the kit for the sweater cookie cutter.

 Click HERE for the recipe for this awesome cookie dough.  One thing I did change in the recipe this year was to use Orange Emulsion from the bakery supply store.  It has a more intense orange flavor than regular orange extract, and kept the cookies nice and moist.

 I had lots of fun with the candy cane cookies this year.

 One of my very favorite designs.  I saw it on the Wilton site, and this is the 2nd year (I believe) of using the holly sprinkles.  I used them everywhere this year.... and still only used 1 tube!  Amazing.

 The reindeer were too much fun!  :)  Do you see that they are gingerbread cookies turned upside down?

 I also made the following candy to add to the cookies in the gift tins:
English Toffee
Haystacks
Pecan Fudge
Chocolate dipped peppermint sticks
Salted caramel Pretzel Bark

 I had a great time playing in my kitchen as I always do, and was able to give many friends these edible gifts.