MY 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE PROJECT

DAY 1  Here is the second composition journal cover I did. My first is the second picture and has a Halloween theme. I was on such a roll from making a few Halloween cards and items with my grand daughters and had lots of "leftovers", so did the journal cover with them. Then my DH said, " Isn't it supposed to be the 12 Days of Christmas"? SOO I flipped it over and did a partridge in a pear tree. The background is my new Martha Stewart flower quilt punch anywhere punch. My 7 yr old grand daughter figured out the magnet mechanism for holding the paper in place. We  had a fun time with it. I looked on line and got my own idea for the tree, the partridge, and added some leaves on top of the flat tree for texture. I gave the  partridge a little glitz with Stickles on its back and the pears are pale green glitter paper.

This is the first attempt at the journal cover and I liked it and did not want to throw it away, 
although I am not usually a big Halloween fan. I do however
like all the fun food that you can have at Halloween. So I will keep the fun recipes in here on this side, and use the other side for Holiday Recipes. The main Pumpkin image is from a wood mounted stamp, the cats are a cling border, and the small images ( bats, ghost, spider and web ) are clear stamps, and the big Jack O'Lantern was made with the Martha Stewart Pumpkin features punch anywhere on the page punch. I cut the pumpkin free hand and the one side is a little lopsided, but hey, pun'kins are not always symmetrical and round...just like people! LOL! I kept the colors true with orange, black, purple, white, and a little lime green and blue in the buttons. I added a Washi tape border on three sides to mirror the dots elsewhere. It was fun.


Day 2 My card is an example of the mosaic technique. I used a variety of design paper to make my triangles. I added a shiny gold star at the top and round red bling scattered on the triangles.. This is simple enough for a young child to put together or when you need to make lots of Christmas cards. I think it needs something but not sure what.




                                                                                                                                                             

Day 3 Bath Salts gift in a decorated jar. This one was not something I would normally do since I only take showers. But I had my idea right away and bought the large yellow silk flowers at the Dollar Store, cut them apart and hot melt glued them on the base. The gold ribbon and Merry Christmas tag makes it ready to give away.

Day 4 Everyone loves Post It Notes and making a cover to make this one extra special was fun. I decided to use one of my new We R Memory Keepers tools which makes small gift boxes that close with punched out corners that over lap and hook together. I used only the corner punch feature with the hooks.. I also wanted to use some bright colored card stock. Mine is double sided and some of the red shows from below. I added a scalloped circle and hand wrote Thanks and added some bling to mirror the dots in the paper. I know someone who loves these colors...shhh....don't tell!

 

Day 5  3-D gift tags  Boy, I goofed this one up a little. Yes, my stars are 3-D but I made ornaments and not gift tags. I cut 4 of each paper star. I have a red glitter paper star, a shiny gold, a green glitter paper, and the last one is made from primitive print papers and I added crystal Stickles to the edges. It is the one to the left. I could still add a tag to these and they would be fine.

Day 6 Candle gift in a mason jar. This too was not something I would choose to do since we have 3 cats and I do not use candles much. I used hot melt glue to stick the ribbon alternating around the sides leaving a goodly space to let the candle light show through. I added the red lace collar and green satin bow. The circle from the lid was removed while the candle was lit and Epsom salts holds the candle in place.

Day 7 Mouse Trap refrigerator note holder. Painted this with red craft paint and started adding things. I had some scrap pieces of red glitter paper and added one piece to the upper right corner and the other in the lower left. I looked my papers over and chose the trees to fussy cut out. I added the torn white snow banks after the trees and I added crystal Stickles to the torn edges of the snow. The ribbons on the "trap" were an added embellishment for some softness. Yes, it won't hold lots of notes, but what it does hold will stay up on the fridge. Magnetic  strips are added to the back for that purpose.

Day 8 Candy gift "stick". This puzzled me at first because I wondered what kind of stick was needed. But after I saw some of the samples, it is only a group of candy made into a vertical strip. I put candy canes on paper tress which were stick together with red double-sided tape. Each tree has a shiny gold star on top and a little bling scattered on the trees. Sorry the picture is small. I added a folded scallop at the top to look a little like snow. Very easy . I cut my trees by hand but if you have a tree die or punch, it would go faster.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
 
Day 9 Craft stick sled All I had was wooden coffee stir sticks which are narrower and thinner than craft sticks. So I went with them.I used hot melt glue to hold them together. I painted them white and added some white sparkle paint on top. I was stumped as to what to put on the top until my DH related a story about the movie "Citizen Kane" in which the main character played by Orson Wells dies at the beginning and his last words were"rosebud". The whole movie they are trying to figure out what he meant by "rosebud" and what significance it had.I won't give the movie away but the audience finds out at the end what it meant. I had just bought some pretty little roses recently, so added one to my sled, along with some pieces left over from using a Cuttlebug die, and added the red/white bakers twine for the rope. Kind of different and cute as an ornament.

Day 10 Salt dough ornament. I have heard of these before but this is my first time trying the recipe out. (1 C flour, 1/2 C table salt, and 1/2 C warm water.) At first I was going to make Santa faces since I have a stamp with four squares with four different facial expressions on Santa. But I could not find that stamp and instead decided to use the snowflake retired set from Stampin Up. I cut the rectangles and then stamped lightly right on the "dough". The  top two I experimented with the edges using the tines of a dinner fork. After they are baked at 200 degrees until dry (mine took 3 hrs), I painted them with some pale ice blue H2Os. the bottom row I tried out some 12 Days of Christmas cookie cutters that I have had for years. I experimented with coloring with markers and the light blue is again H2Os.The hanging holes need to be cut out while the dough is still wet using a straw.

Day 11 Banners  I made a simple card using some scraps of green and red paper. I added the chalk board inner triangle and added the white chalk letters to spell JOY. the sentiment is a clear one from a new set of lots of Christmas sentiments. I added the bling between and the red/white bakers twine for the hanger.





Day 12 Mini album made from toilet paper rolls. Not sure why, but the toilet paper rolls from Wisconsin are a bigger diameter than our MN ones, So this craft had lots of room for inserting a card. I covered each flattened roll with patterned paper. I punched two holes in each and hooked two "O" rings in the holes.. I decided to make a Memorize Bible verses album. Each flattened roll has a white card inserted with a Scripture written on card. The bottom of each card has a pull out tab. There is room for 6 verses counting the front and back of each card. They are printed so my grand daughters can read them easily. I added the heart on the front with the gift paper because Jesus loves His creation and died to provide a way for us to be forgiven and be with Him eternally. He is the ultimate Christmas gift for all who would believe. This is my prayer for all, that you seek the living Word of God, Jesus Christ, and make Him your Lord and
savior, asking for forgiveness of your sins, and following Him and trying to mirror His example as recorded in His Word. God bless you all.

AUTUMN MISTS

Hi  family, friends, and followers,

We are in the cold rainy throws of Autumn. Nice napping weather. I often hear the Canadian geese over head. They stay up north all year and are I think, beautiful birds. Hope to do some watercolor paintings of them some day. It is on my bucket list.

We had a nice early Thanksgiving dinner with our son and  his wife's family today. The  turkey was cooked in the Green Egg and had a slight smoked flavor and was moist and tasty. Lots of the traditional side dishes and lots of good conversation. We will redo Thanksgiving over in MN the end of the month.

I have made a couple of cards and presently working on 12 items for a challenge called The 12 Days of Christmas. Need to finish by Nov 11 to compete .Here is a BD card for my exchange student/daughter. The Halloween Step card is  also a birthday card for a friend whose BD is Halloween.

Sorry my photo skills are so poor and the pictures small. Maybe I should add that to my bucket list too.
The floral card went quickly once I had the background paper chosen. I really liked the colors, but altered the look a little with a bit of spritzing with Pearl Glimmer Mist, that does not show in the picture but gives a shinny pearlized surface.  I had to weigh the wet paper down to keep it flat and let it dry. Then I added the vine in a green print and primitive hearts for flower buds. I cut the sentiment panel with a Spellbinder and edged it with some Baroque Burgundy ink. I used a grass green for the mat.  I added two small hearts and a bow to finish it up. Hope you had a wonderful birthday, Krissia.

The Halloween BD card took a little longer with the step cuts and folds and lots of parts to color and cut out. The main picture of pumpkins with the Trick or Treat frame is from Rubber Stampede and called Pumpkin Patch. The row of cats on the middle "mountain" is from a cling set whose name escapes me right now. The ghost, bat, "BOO" (which I added DAY to ), the spider web and spider and Happy Halloween all come from a Paper Smooches clear set. The tree with owl is from Hampton Art called Spooky Tree. I just colored the big moon behind the tree for color on that side of the card. "Necessity is the mother of invention". I added the bat for the same reason, and when I made another card just like it in yellow. I added a second spider web to the bottom left to cover that blank space. The grass is a Martha Stewart punch and I used Stampin Up markers for all the coloring.

Hope I can keep up with my blog. I have a new Touch Screen PC and things do not work the way I remember, so this old bird is having to relearn a bit and DH help often. Thanks dear!

Thanks so much for checking in to see my creations.

Be blessed, Martha

NEVER GIVE UP

Hello family and friends,

This is my first post since Jan 2012. Yikes, where has the time gone. I have communicated with most of you in other ways. My  poor old lap top  has been neglected for 5 months and not even plugged in during that time. My only excuse is that I have had more surgeries since then, 9 within the last three years, That is a lot for any old person my age. But I am relatively pain free, and able to function fairly normally, although I am not and never had been a runner LOL Just ask the coach of the neighborhood ladies soft ball team I was on years ago.

This summer began with my left knee replacement, which turned out well and I have 98% range of motion which is really good. The 12 days in rehab and the 12 weeks after going to rehab once a week really worked in my favor. I am the poster child for joint replacements!Then we went through  Bill's prostate cancer in July with it being contained and removed, and I had breast cancer found in Aug and removed and not spread anywhere.  I will need to take Tamoxifen to keep it from developing at another location in the breast. Mine was called ductal carcinoma in situ and in women my age is considered non invasive when removed. They give the med if a  woman has the DNA hormone receptors and I do, It will block hormones from causing this again. So I am a survivor and count each day a blessing.

I will try to post a card soon. Thanks for your patience and for stopping by.

God bless you all! Martha