Twelve Days of Christmas

Day 5

One of the best things about playing around with art is being able to make a gift for a friend. I have a dear friend who loves birds and birdcages as much as I do.

This summer we traveled to the International Folk Art Festival in Santa Fe to take photographs.  Whenever we have a chance to visit "the city different" we make a special effort to go to our favorite little shop on Canyon Road, the name of the shop is Curiosa.  It is always full of fascinating little things. This trip we saw a bird cage in the little shop and I just knew I could make something like it.

First I had to figure out how to assemble the cage.  I had a round paper mache box in my stash so I used the top of it as the base for my cage.

I covered the wires with florist tape and then covered them and base with more of my vintage music paper.   Once it dried I did a light white wash over the whole thing.  My next problem was finding a bird the right size.  I looked all over for one, but wound up making my own with good old paper mache.

The little bird was the perfect size to perch on the outside of the cage, I painted him and then glued him to a small clothes pin.  I found a stick to glue inside as a perch and used some creamy silk roses to finish everything off.  The banner on the inside says "Peace".  The best part was when she opened her gift.  She recognized the cage and thought I had gone back to the little shop and bought the one we had seen.  She was so tickled that I had made it instead.

I was so happy she liked it.

Have a great day and I'll talk to you again soon.

End of the school year

School's Out!

We made it to the end of the year.  As school years go, this one was great.  I had some wonderful volunteers who really helped make things run smoothly in the library.  I am so appreciative of all the hours they devoted to our students.  I did put together some appreciation gifts to send them off on summer vacation.  

 The tags read:  "I'm soda-lighted to have you as a volunteer this year" and the one for my aide said, "I'm soda-lighted to be together again".  I found the swirl suckers on line and the candy sticks at the local party supply store.  They each got a gift card to a local restaurant which is in the pocket on the back of the tag.  They all seemed to love their gifts.

I've been on a bit of a break from my blog but, I hope to be back in the swing now that school is out and I can regroup a bit.  So thanks for stopping by and I'll talk to you again soon.

Tea party gifts

As promised, here's what was inside the gift bags that I gave to my mom, sister and nieces.  Every year we have a birthday tea and I make them each a little gift.

This year I decided to put together small sewing kits, since my sister is leaving for a year to live in Ireland (I know lucky huh!) and she isn't taking her sewing machine I figured she'd need something for quick fixes.  One of my niece's lives in another city going to college and the other works in an office and can put it in her desk for emergencies.  My mom is a great seamstress so her's is just something pretty to put by her chair to hold extra pins and what-nots. So here's what I did.  I used the little half pint mason jars, I didn't want them to be too big or take up too much room.  Of course each one had to be colored coordinated.

Here's a peek inside.

Lid off, everything fits snugly inside

There is a small container with buttons and safety pins, a seam ripper, measuring tape, scissors with cover, a wooden spool with thread, a thimble, and a felt needle book

This is the inside of the needle case with a holder for a needle threader.

I painted all the metal pieces to match cause we all know I'm crazy for how things coordinate!  I found some very cool metallic paint and painted the thimbles and needle threaders.  I wish I could have done something with the scissor handles but I had to give in on that one.  My inspiration for the needle books came from here.  My sister's, of course, had shamrocks instead of flowers.

Well, there you have it another yearly tea gift.  But. our next one will be much later, we have to wait till sis get's back.  Have a great weekend everyone.  I'll talk to you again soon.

DIY Valentine Gifts

I've been creating away in my little studio the last few days and thinking of Valentine's day.  I wanted to make a sweet little container for a gift idea I had so I searched around the net for some ideas and found this site here.  This candy box is what I had envisioned but I assembled mine a little differently and I just used card stock because that's what I have on hand.  I made some coordinating felt flowers and a little tag to decorate the top.  Tucked inside is a little surprise.

I found the idea for the bracelet on-line too.  Right here, she even gives a great tutorial I how she makes them.  I did mine a little different, I'm not that good with nail polish.  I sprayed the candy (yes they're real conversation hearts) with several coats of clear lacquer, let them dry and then drilled the top and inserted the eye pins.  I had to warn the sweet-toothed DH not to eat them, they look even yummier shiny.  Not to worry, I'll be sure to give him his own little box of un-lacquered ones to eat on Valentine's day.

I had several folks at school ask me to make some for them to give as gifts so I'm off to make more.  I'll talk to you again soon.

Linking to:

Last Day and a Count Down

Well, it's the last day of December, the last day of 2011 and the last day of my personal creative challenge.  This year has been an exciting time of creative projects and working out of my comfort zone.  Reflecting on the past year and all the projects I was able to work on and complete, I decided I would do a top ten post to end the year.  So here are some of my favorites and some of the most visited posts of this year...

No. 10

The gifts and packages I made for my mom & sister's and niece's

 annual birthday tea.

No. 9

A brunch I catered for some friends.  We had so much fun that day.

No. 8

A set of cards I made for a special Aunt. They actually got put in the mail to her (I won't tell you when)

No. 7

A card I did for a challenge. I still like this orange and blue combination.

No. 6

 Pinky and Dotty the owls, I found the instructions on the internet and wound up making several to give away.

No. 5

December's Valentine Bear.

No. 4

A card I made for a challenge that honors the famous NM question.

No. 3

Another challenge card that earned a spot in the top 10 on the Heart 2 Heart challenge blog.

No. 2

Polka dot love! This was for another challenge and actually won the top honor for the month.  As a result I got to be the guest designer on the Heart 2 Heart challenge blog.  It was quite a thrill!

 

And finally, the No. 1 
post for 2011, it was the most visited and I actually won something!

 
Well, there you have it!  My creative highlights of 2011.  I already have big plans for 2012, I hope you do too.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you come back often.  Have a safe, healthy and happy new year.  I'll talk to you again soon.


**Edit** Joined the link to top ten @ Someday Crafts.

Homemade Caramel Corn

It's day 24 of my personal creative challenge

The caramel corn is done and packaged up in it's Christmas popcorn boxes.  Yes, there is a prize inside each box.

This caramel corn is delicious and it turns out crisp not chewy every time.  I put a little prize in the bottom of each one.  Lip gloss rings for the girls and dinosaur erasers for the boys.  I found the prizes in the party isle at the big store down the hill.

It's almost time to deliver the goodies.  I hope your Christmas eve is filled with the love, joy and hope of the season and you and your family get to celebrate the birth of Christ and His gift to each of us.  I'll talk to you again soon.

Cowboy Christmas Cookies part II

This is day 23 of my personal creative challenge

If you've been reading my blog the last few days you may remember that I make a batch of Cowboy Christmas cookies for my gift platters.  Well, they didn't last long enough to go on the platters.  I went in to the pantry yesterday and found that the container only had about 4 cookies left, the guilty party admitted to eating them but said he thought I had more somewhere else and didn't realize these were for the platters.  Oh well, a second batch went together today and I think these turned out better than the first batch.  

 I started packaging them up as soon as they were cool enough so hopefully they'll make it out to our friends and neighbors.  For this gift I used another one of the cute little buckets I got at Target.  Then I made labels for the top of the containers.  I've still got to add a tag and some ribbon but, they're almost ready to go out the door.

I hope your day was filled with fun and laughter too.  I'll talk to you again soon.

Thank you volunteers!

Today is day 16 of my personal creative challenge

Finished up the last of my volunteer thank you gifts.  They all turned out great and I think my ladies really liked them.

Each set ended up being a different color combination.  I can't decide which one was my favorite.  This green and red set was very traditional but I loved how it turned out.  The next set was is a pale blue green with accents of brown and it was really pretty too. 

Nope, can't decide.  What about you?  Do you have a favorite?  Thanks for stopping by, we have a gathering to go to tonight so I guess I better go wrap those white elephant gifts.  I'll talk to you again soon.

Sugared Almonds

This is day 15 of my personal creative challenge

A yummy treat and mostly healthy gift, these sugared almonds are pretty easy to make but, a little time consuming, you can package them up in a variety of cute ways.  This year I went a little easy on myself and made some small popcorn shaped  boxes to put them in.

These were easy to put together and then wrap up with a little clear wrap.  A quick tie with some ribbon and they are good to go.  This recipe will make enough for several little gifts as long as I stay out of the bowl.

I hope you are having a great evening.  Only one day left before our Christmas break starts, not that I'm counting or anything.  I'll talk to you again soon.