Holiday Treat Caramel Bags

I ordered these Paper Trey frosted bags when they first came out not having any idea what I was going to do with them. In the last couple of years, I've kind of become known for making homemade caramels at Christmas time. Well little did I know that these little bags would end up making the perfect caramel holder! I used white Staz On ink to stamp the snowflakes right on the bags and then the Holidays Treats set and the oval scallop punch made the perfect quick gift! I gave these little bags to teachers, religious education teachers, the bus driver, and a number of other people. Nicole Heady is genius!!!!!!

Bold Brights Snowflake gift set

Well, I need to post my last couple pics of holiday things that I made before the new year starts. I found these super cute cups at Target and immediately knew they would be some sort of gift for my upline Kristin. For those of you that read this and know Kristin, these cups scream her name: she loves anything to do with the bold brights family, they sparkle (like her personality), and they are just plain "FUN!". I ended up filling them with homemade caramels.
But, the funnest part was making a card to match. The Snowburst set out of the holiday mini almost perfectly matched the snowflakes on the glasses. Never in a million years would I have used this many colors, let alone bold brights, to make a snowflake card, but it worked out great. I used the diamond dust technique to finish it off. Super sparkly in person!

With Gratitude

Unbelievable that I haven't posted for 2 weeks. I've decided my life is way busier than I thought it was, and this time of year is just crazy!

Anyway here's an altered gratitude journal. I highly recommend a book named Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach. It's a daybook that teaches you the importance of having gratitude in you life. Some days it is a struggle, but it does change your outlook when you take time each day to find things to be grateful for.
That being said, I made this journal to jot down my daily gratitudes down in for the new year.First off is the journal I bought. It was $2.49 at Kmart. It's a Mead hardcover notebook that actually didn't look to bad on it's own. The hard surface makes it perfect for altering.
Next I cut down a piece of chocolate chip paper to the right size. I used Paper Trey's Spiral Boquet set and began by stamping with Ballet Blue craft ink.
Next I covered with white craft ink using the outlining image from this set, along with smaller coordinating stamp.
Here is journal finished, with that piece of paper attached, and a piece of Martha Stewarts decorative tape (ribbon) running down the seam of the paper. I also attached a long piece of brown ribbon to the binding using a piece from the Hodgepodge Hardware kit. Along the bottom I stung on some beads from the Pretties kit.
This is just the inside so you could get a better look at the ribbon and the beading to make the pretty page marker.

If I don't get to posting, a very Merry Christmas to all of you who stop to check and see what I am up to.

Kat

Fresh Baked Treats

Last Saturday was our church's Christmas bizarre/raffle. They asked all the "ladies" of the parish to make treats and you could donate to the craft table as well. So I made two different kinds of Peppermint cookies and I found 20 (yes 20)un-used Christmas cards from last year to and packaged them in groups of 5 for the craft table. Paper Trey's Holiday Treats set was the perfect thing for this! And those window coffee bags-TOO perfect for something like this. I had some extra jingle bells floating around and tied them on with Stampin' Up ribbon.
These are just the extra's and both of these recipes are TO DIE for! Here they are:

Peppermint Melt-aways

1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 cup butter (I used margarine)
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 c. cornstarch (yes...really...)

Glaze:
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp softened butter
1/4 tsp. peppermint extract
1-2 tbsp milk
food coloring to color frosting pink-red

crushed candy canes for the top (4-5 of them is probably enough)

Combine 1/2 cup powdered sugar, butter, and peppermint. Beat until creamy. Lower speed and and flour and cornstarch. Beat until well mixed. Cover and refrigerate until firm (30-60 minutes).


Heat oven to 350. Shape into 1" balls. Slightly flatten. Bake 12-15 minutes. Let stand one minute. Remove from cookie sheet, cool completely.

Combine glaze ingredients. (I made mine more like frosting, not putting in as much milk, the original recipe is more glaze like.) Sprinkle immediately with crushed candy canes.



For Peppermint Snowballs click here.

Enjoy all!

Wish me luck, I gutting, repainting, redecorating, reorganizing my stamping "studio" this weekend!

"BELIEVE" in Santa?

Every year, my mom, sister and I get together and take a day to make Christmas cards. Last Monday was our day to create this year and I had to share with you my favorite card from this years creations. It uses the Santa from Paper Trey's Believe set. I used the Diamond Dust technique were the whole piece of paper the Santa is on is covered in Versamark and then sprinkled with Iridescent Ice and heat set. The Believe on the bottom was stamped in versamark and heat set with Iridescent Ice as well. He's really sparkly and pretty in person. I think the whole day I used Paper Trey sets-bad Stampin' Up demo, bad Stampin' Up demo!!
Have a good Monday all!!!