Beeswax Candle

My father-in-law has several hives of bees which means beeswax!  For Christmas, I was able to clean up enough wax to make this horse candle.  The wax isn't as clean as it should be, but I'm still learning.

Painted Wine Glasses

These wine glasses were Christmas gifts for several women in my family.  I hand painted each glass, though I did use stencils for the names.  My hands are very unsteady, but discovered that I could go back and scrape off a little bit of the paint if a line turned out lumpy or I had a bump, or another mistake.  Alcohol also dissolved the paint.  These techniques only worked for a few days after the paint was applied though.  For Ashley's glass, I used a Q-tip dipped in paint for the dots. For all the glasses, the tiny little dots on the names and other places were made using a toothpick dipped in paint.

Another Christmas Card

This card follows along with the simplicity theme I've been enjoying lately.  The card was designed with Make-the-Cut and Lettering Delights Nordic Christmas svg files.  It was printed out then layered on top of the card with a red layer.  I added some Want2Scrap bling in the corners for some shine.

I'm entering this card in two challenges.  The Jingle Belles Scandinavian Challenge's criteria was to make a card using the color red. I also stuck to their Scandinavian inspiration.

Alway's Playing With Paper's Merry Monday challenge is to use birds in your Christmas card. 

Beer Soap

For Christmas, I made two batches of beer soap.  My brother has been home brewing for a while now and I thought it might be nice to make some soap with some extra beer he had.  There were two types I made. The one pictured below is one I consider more girly. It has some extra oils in it and the scent is stronger.

I made the label using Make-The-Cut and a Lettering Delights font and doodlebat.  Each woman I gave a Christmas present to got a bar of this soap.

I forgot to take a picture of what I called The Man Soap.  It had a lighter fragrance called Oatmeal Stout.  It was mostly made of olive oil, but also had some coconut and a little palm oil as well. I also fixed the label to include my brother's name instead of writing it on all of them.  All the men got a bar of this soap. The extra's went to my brother and his wife to use or hand out as gifts.

Christmas Tree Topper

2012 was our first year having a tall Christmas tree in the house.  We had gotten the tree from my mother-in-law and I had very few ornaments and no tree topper.  A trip to Hobby Lobby solved this.  I didn't like any of the pre-made toppers they had so I decided to make my own on the fly.  I pretty much just grabbed some Christmas floral type decorations and hoped for the best.  I think it turned out well.

Recycled Christmas

This week's prompt over at the Jingle Belles blog is Peace on Earth(Day) where we are to recycle materials to make the cards. I chose to use a piece of cardboard for the front and some scraps for the rest. Most of the paper on the cardboard came off, but not all. I like the look. I slapped on some gesso then spritzed with some glimmer mist. The snowman stamp is a $1 one from JoAnn's and the words are from a stamp set by K Andrew. They're all embossed except for the snowflakes. I did follow the Merry Monday sketch from last week, but wasn't able to download the image until today, so it wasn't linked up.




 In other news...my semester is almost over! I have one crazy take home exam and possibly another. It's been a busy semester with working full time and taking two grad level courses. I'll be happy to have my evenings back for the summer and be able to make more crafty things.

The chicks are doing well. I'll be able to move them into their new coop hopefully tonight. We just have to get some hinges and latches on. I don't think I can call them chicks anymore though. They're getting so big. Pictures will come very soon of the coop and the girls.

Christmas Card

This card is for the Jingle Belles Neutral Noel challenge and



The tree and dots are actually embossed with a pretty gold powder, it just came out poor in the photo. I took inspiration from the tree pillow, then found some grungy papers and went with it. I don't think it quite works, but I still think it looks okay.

On a side note, I got chicks today! I've been wanting some laying hens for a few years, but living in apartments hasn't allowed for it. Last summer was so crazy with buying and moving into the house. So now I have some. There are six of them and they are golden comets.

Jingle Belles Challenge

As a break from working on my organic chemistry homework today I made a Christmas card for this week's Jingle Belles' challenge. It was to create a card using stickers or rub-ons.

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The 'let it snow' words were from a sticker pack. The snowflakes are adorable dimensional stickers from K&Company. I added some glitter around the edges of the card using some Martha Stewart paint I received with my Live from CHA kit. It was very easy to put together since most of it was stickers.

Inspiration for the 'let it snow' theme came from our crazy weather. Yesterday it got up to about 65F and today we had some snow. I had the song running through my head all day.

Advent Calendar

Sadly, my camera doesn't want to recognize any memory card. I was hoping to post my Christmas tags today, but another Christmas project will have to do.



This advent calendar was made out of matchboxes and a cereal box. It was made for an advent calendar swap on Craftster. I feel like it needs something more 3D on top. I might make another one this year if I can find what I did with the patterns I made for the sides.

Hopefully my camera will be up and running again soon so I can post newer crafts.

Pink Christmas

The Jingle Belles challenge this week is to make a card using pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The best part of this challenge is that $2 will be donated to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure for every card that is entered. I'm not a big fan of pink, but there's no way I could pass this up. It really was a challenge creating something for Christmas with pink.



For the background I used pink card stock and spritzed it with Tattered Angels pink bubblegum glimmer mist. The tree is from a set from Hobby Lobby. The adorable little deer and text are from K. Andrew's Christmas stamp set. Flowers are Prima's, ribbon from the dollar section at target. All stamps are embossed.

It didn't show up in the picture, but below the deer and tree, I used Tattered Angels chandelier glitter paint. I haven't used it previously and wasn't sure what to expect. I wanted to add some glimmer as snow. Next time I will add a little more definition for the snow first. Maybe do some clear or slightly off white embossing then add the glimmer.

Let it Snow! - a card

I'm not at all ready for winter and am quite enjoying the warmer October weather we've had this week. However, I did finally get my KAndrew Winter Wishes stamps recently. They had a little adventure. Short story even shorter, they spent some time in the ditch across the street from my mailbox. The mailman thinks that the door was blown open and they flew out and spend some rainy cold days in the ditch. Luckily the field had already been harvested and the stamps were well packaged. They were completely undamaged and in perfect condition.



I love these stamps. This is the first, and so far only, card I've made. But I plan to use them a lot for holiday crafting. They stamped so nicely straight out of the package. I wish I could have made the circle a little wider, but that was as wide as my baby bug would allow. Really, I just wanted to make something with these stamps. It actually goes along with last week's Jingle Belles challenge, but I didn't get the time to make it before the deadline.



I also used her stamps for a fun greeting inside.

Jingle Belles Peace Challenge

The theme for this weeks Jingle Belles challenge is Peace on Earth. We are required to incorporate either a peace sign or the word Peace into our holiday card.

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I stamped and embossed the background and the lettering. The bird is from a Lettering Delights SVG file.

Mojo Monday Challenge

I recently came across the Mojo Monday sketch challenge blog. I really enjoy making cards from layouts. Probably because it's one less thing to worry about. I can follow along but still be creative and make it my own. For challenge this week I made another Christmas card.

Jingle Belles Christmas Card

I love making ATCs. This weeks Jingle Belles challenge was perfect for me to jump back in to non wedding crafts. I made an ATC then decided that was enough for the card along with a patterned background, so I didn't add any more embellishment beyond a red border to the card itself. The card is also small. Only 5 1/2 x 4 inches. Very simple and fun.

Waterfall Cards

Last weekend I discovered waterfall cards. These are some of the coolest cards I have seen. They are pretty easy to make, especially once you get the hang of it, so I made two. I did use the wrong glue for the backing paper so they're both kind of warped and need to be glued to something more sturdy to take the warp out. I use this tutorial from Split Coast Stampers to make the cards.

First, a Christmas card. I stamped and embossed each layer including the background.


Next, a fun cupcake card. I used Make-The-Cut with my Cricut and Lettering Delights doodlebat. The final layer says "You take the cake"


My apartment smells wonderful right now. I made a small batch of cold process soap and scented it with BrambleBerry's Energy fragrance blend. It's divine. Later, I plan on making a blueberry buckle so it will smell even more wonderful.

Another Christmas Card Challenge Entry

I made this Christmas card for Jingle Belles' Text Me challenge. We were supposed to use text in our card as a main element.

I used Lettering Delights SVGs for the card shape and the tag on front. I made the little half fan dodad on the top to add some more dimension.

Christmas Card for Challenges

Jingle Belles and Sketchy Thursdays are holding a joint challenge this week. Each blog is giving away one prize pack for the same card as long as you link it up to both posts. Here is my entry.


I used Lettering Delights Merriment svg set for most of the cutouts and DCWV "The Winter Combo" paper pack.

Cricut Christmas Card + free file

This is the first card I made using the Make the Cut software for my Cricut. I'm fairly pleased with how it came out except I think the papers are a little too busy.



The .mtc file is included below. There is one layer for the top of the card and a second, unscored, layer for the card base. Just fold the base in half, and stick the top on.

Christmas Card 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it. I've been busy with school, work and a holiday swap I'm participating in this month. Finals are coming up quick. I managed to finish all the stockings for my family for Christmas. I used my Cricut to make freezer paper stencils for the names. They were pretty easy to make once I figured out exactly how I wanted to do them.