Sassy & Sweet Notes

Mom's Quilt Studio Progress

Thought I would share the progress of Mom's quilt studio, a room Dad added onto their house for Mom to use for her quilting .... nothing short of amazing. She has her pretty fabric all folded and organized on the shelves. You can see *some* of her finished quilts up on top of the shelves.

The counter, covered with the die cutting machine, dies, stacks of felt for our current holiday crafting projects, as well as other odds and ends that we drug out for crafting. There's also one of Mom's cute little Featherweight machines on the counter, begging to be used (or taken to my house - HA!).

The library, getting organized; the ironing board being used for last minute Christmas gift wrapping.

The machine, extended to the size for quilting a queen sized quilt, and extra machine parts still in boxes on the floor. Extra parts will move into storage areas. In the foreground sits the craft table, soon to be replaced by a larger handmade table that Dad is builiding. The design wall in the background, soon to have cedar wood trim borders; and all the pretty fabric stacked up on the shelves. Oooooh la la!

The loft, ready for storing batting for the centers of the quilts. I think it might make a nice bunk for sleeping visitors. Haaaaa!

*Some* of the Christmas themed quilts out on display. And a pretty wall hanging with deer and birch trees made for Mom by Aunt Patty and Aunt Judy.

Imagine the fun that is to be had in this room!

a look back at some favorites...

I thought I would share some of my favorite holiday projects from recent years past. I made this card using the "scrap" of a die cut tree and old sheet music with one of my crystal snowflakes added for embellishment.

A holiday tag using a Crafty Secrets snowman scrap. Chubby little cuttie!

A wooden shape covered with paper and felt, with buttons for eyes and a nose.

Wooden hearts covered with paper strips, made to look like quilted heart blocks.

A scrappy holiday card made with various Crafty Secrets images and stamps. Lots of glitter for sparkle.

Country holiday tag, made with my Rustic Snowman stamp from Whipper Snapper.

Gingerbread boy tags, made with Sizzix dies, old sheet music, and designer paper. Again, lots of glitter for sparkle and shine!

My Sizzix snowman, made with chipboard and sheet music... Fa la la la la!

An altered birch bark candle, embellished with one of my crystal snowflakes.

My owl feltie ornament... love him!

Altered wooden snowflake, with lots of crystal snowflakes added to the center. Rustic jingle bells on curly wire add a bit more holiday cheer.

Tiny Tim's Santa coat... heheheeee!!

Quilt themed holiday card, made with my winter quilts stamp set, from Whipper Snapper.

A 4x4 handmade gift box filled with tea, cocoa packets, and peppermint sticks. Yum!

A Santa Christmas card, using the High Hopes Santa face stamp image. Ho ho ho!

A cowboy snowman card, made with this cutie image from High Hopes. Still, a personal favorite.

Hope you enjoyed this look back at some of my favorite holiday projects!

Turkey Feeding Time

Here is a quick video of Dad feeding one of the flocks of wild turkeys in the front yard, Christmas morning.

If you have trouble viewing the video on the blog, you will find it here on YouTube.

Hope you're enjoying your day!

Hot Cocoa Mix Recipe

Alan dug my cocoa recipe out of my cookbook for you, so here you go!

French Vanilla Hot Cocoa Mix
1 box powdered sugar (I think it's a 1 pound box)
1 jar French Vanilla Coffee Mate (11oz jar)
24oz Nestle Quick (milk chocolate flavor)
1 box (8 quart size) Carnation Instant Milk Powder
Sometimes I add about 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder to the mix as well.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl or large zippy bag and mix well. Add 1/3 cup mix to a mug o' hot water and serve.

You can exchange the French Vanilla Coffee Mate for any other flavored Coffee Mate you'd like (Peppermint, Hazelnut, etc)

Mmmm, good!

Rustic Snowman Card

What a wonderful day in the pacific northwest! We woke up to a very light snowfall that put about 2" of soft powder on the ground by the end of the day. Beautiful! I drove to Grandma's house for a quick visit, and had a cheery time visiting.

Here in the snowy mountains we're getting ready to tuck in for the night, and hope to hear the jingling bells of Santa's sleigh midway through the night. I hope we're on his "nice" list this year! *grin*

Merry Christmas to you, from Alan and me, and all the critters on the farm!

Friends with Chocolate

Speaking of chocolate, here's a card I made w/ a cute Inky Antics image.

As for the recipe for the cocoa mixes I made ... I'll get back to you! I don't have it with me, but I'll see if I can sweet talk Alan into pulling it out of my recipe book for you! *grin*

Hot Cocoa Mix Gift Jars

In addition to making spice tea gift jars this year, I also made some hot chocolate mix gift jars too. Yum!

I wrapped some of the jars with red and white ribbon, tied up with tags for labels. Most of the jars I used were jars I picked up earlier this year, and other jars I used were jars I saved up over the year that I knew would make good gift jars.

The jars I saved up during the year I dressed up a bit by wrapping the jars with pretty printed papers. I used sticky double-sided adhesive to adhere fabric to the lids (to hide the printed jar labels). Unless you do some serious peeling to get the fabric and twine off the jar lids, you'd never know the lids were for jams and jellies...and sunflower seeds! *grin*

Some of the jars I wrapped with strips of homespun fabric instead of the red and white ribbon. Each jar was dressed up how I thought the recipient would like it. Some of the tags I made were made with metal rimmed paper tags...

...and other tags were made using manilla shipping tags that I tea-dyed.

I dressed up all the tags with paper holly and button berries, and a bit of glitter for sparkle.

I really enjoy putting these together for friends!

Ho ho HO!

Congrats to Princess!

Alan went out to the pasture this morning and found that Princess had delivered herself a little dun bull calf!

Way to go, girl!!

I'll post photos when I return home to the farm at the first of the year.

Mooooo!

Easel Holiday Card

'Tis the season for making fun gifts, and I made a good assortment of them this year. Here is a jar of spice tea mix I dressed up using plaid ribbon, and a tea-dyed tag. I made a card using a left-over image from my critter treat packages, using October Afternoon papers.

Instead of making a standard card, I decided to make an easel card. The card is the standard A2 size, and has a cardstock fashioned easel on the back to support it for display. For mailing, the easel slides out of the bottom "pocket", and folds flat against the back of the card. So easy, and so fun!

Poultry Play

I'm catching a flight up to Washington in the morning (I'd better start packing!), and thought I would leave you for the day with this card I made using my Sledding Chicken stamp, from Whipper Snapper.

Doesn't she look like she's having FUN!

Wheeeee!!!

Image stamped in black Memento ink, colored with a combination of Touch Twin and Copic markers.

Happy Monday!

Pass the inspiration, please!

Today I finished up the last (I think) of this year's Christmas cards, and thought I'd share a funny little story about my card.

Last year I saved THIS CARD of Darleen's in my "favorites" on SplitCoastStampers. Darleen was inspired to create her card by THIS CARD, also found on SplitCoastStampers.

I had just finished putting the last few buttons on my cards (I made 8 of them) and decided to scroll through my Google Reader list and see what others have been up to this weekend. I was quite surprised to find THIS CARD posted by Debbie Olson today, which she created using inspiration from Darleen's card as well! Crikey! What are the odds of THAT happening, more than a year after the original card was posted?!

"Alan, better go buy a lottery ticket!"

Supplies: EK Success snowflake punch, Memory Box patterned paper, Christmas Blessings Cling Mount set from Whipper Snapper, old buttons, twine, misc cardstock

Spice Tea Gift Jars

One of my favorite beverages, especially in the winter, is spice tea (Friendship Tea, Russian Tea, Orange Spice Tea...) ...whatever you want to call it. I decided to make some gift jars of tea mix this year for some of the folks that buy eggs from us weekly, and for a couple special friends.

Throughout the year I save nice sized jars just for these types of projects. Jam and jelly jars are perfect! They are a great "gift" size, clean up nice, and are easy and fun to dress up.

The recipe I use for the mix is one that my Mom gave me.
1 Cup Instant Tea (unsweetened)
2 Cups Tang
1 Cup Lemonade Mix (Countrytime, etc)
1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl or large sealing bag; mix well.

Serve 2 TBS mix in a mug of hot water. Mmmmmm, good!

Some people use lemon flavored tea mix instead of individual tea and lemonade mix, but I don't care for lemon flavored tea mixes, so I stick with Mom's recipe.

Mmmmm!

Zooooom!

Why is it that December always seems to just slip away from me? I need to put a pause on a couple of days, and catch up with life around me, and my to-do list! Monday I catch a flight up to the northwest for the Christmas holiday. While I don't ever look forward to the flight, I always look forward to the time spent up north. I have a fistfull of project to share with you, but haven't had time to get photos taken. Soon, I promise!!

A while ago (October? November?) I mentioned that I made some cinnamon dipped primitive candles, but at the time didn't have a photo to share. Well, I snapped this one the other day at the local shop these are sold in, so you could see what I was talking about. The candles are sold in pairs, wrapped with a festive piece of homespun fabric. And they smell sooooo gooooooooood! I made them in two sizes, and am presenting them in two old bread tins from my kitchen cupboard. *grin*

Holiday Treats for our Furry Friends Part 2

I finished more critter treat packets! This time, cats and big dogs.

For the cat toppers, I used the Whipper Snapper image called Sanders. Perfect fit, and perfect image for such an occasion.

I filled the packets with catnip flavored Temptations. Mmmmm! And festive, too!

For the big dogs, I used the Whipper Snapper image called Smiling Lab. I tucked a wrap into a long, narrow cello bag, and added the topper.

Labs of all colors!

You will find my first post of holiday treats for our furry friends here.

And by the way, I'm entering these toppers in the current Touch Twin Markers & More challenge.

Holiday Treats for our Furry Friends

I started making this year's pet themed holiday treat packets last weekend, and was able to put the final touches on these three last night.

We don't have a lot of kiddos in our family, and only a few of my friends have kids, but there are lots of furry friends between us all! They are always on Santa's "Nice" list, so we put a little something in their Christmas stockings!

I used this cute little dog from Whipper Snapper (Wriggley) to create "toppers" for small clear envelopes that I tucked a couple of small-dog friendly chews in. I used papers from the recently released Holiday Style paper pad by Cosmo Cricket for the die cut layers. I used a Martha Stewart punch to create the holly leaves (one of my favorite holiday punches!), and one of my small tea-dyed tags for the sentiment.

The images were stamped in Memento ink and colored with a combination of Touch Twin and Copic markers.

I used my trusty Karen Foster Snap Stamps to create the sentiment on the tags.

I have no doubt these will be enjoyed come Christmas morning, if not sooner!

More critter themed treat packets to come!

Snowman Faces

I love snowmen, if you can't tell... *grin*

I made these snowman face magnets, using this project on making reusable gift tags, as inspiration. That project was also the inspiration for the lapel pins I made. I loved her idea but I just borrowed her "face" and made something completely different. Oddly enough, when I was in college I used to make snowman face lapel pins out of clay that look just like these magnet faces. Some had hats, some had scarves, some had ear muffs, and some were just faces, like these.

To "present" the magnets, I punched a hole in some of my tea-dyed tags and poked the magnet through the hole. The magnets stay put on the tag, snug as a bug in a rug.

I painted the faces with an off-white paint, added the face, roughed up the edges of the discs a bit with an emery board, and then gave them a quick spattering of brown paint using a tooth brush.

I wonder what I'll do with all these cuties!?

Loving Christmas Wishes

Here's a vintage holiday image for you -- perhaps you'll find some use for it this holiday season. Click on the image to view the larger image size, then right click and save the file to your computer.

Why? Because I like you. *grin*

Cranberry Hootycreek Cookies

I recommend this recipe as one of your holiday treats: Cranberry Hootycreeks

Yummm...

Miss Twiggy Says Hello!

Seems Miss Twiggy has built up a little fan base! I've had a few requests for her address (perhaps she has some good-dog holiday treats coming in the mail?), so I thought I would post the info here for others who might like to surprise our little adoptee with some holiday goodness. She promises to be a good dog...

Miss Twiggy
PO Box 186
Milford, TX 76670

Here is Miss Twiggy in one of her two speeds: FAST! She was helping me take photos of some ornaments -- it was a very exciting process, it seems! She could hardly sit still!

Her other speed is SLEEP!, in case you're wondering... *grin*

Cheery Snowmen Ornaments: Need New Homes

I finally finished some new snowman ornaments I've been working on. These took soooo long to make (days!), which is why there are only 6 finished!

It has been like an elf's workshop here, non-stop!

Painting and sanding and glittering and sewing and gluing and baking... their heads and scarves are hand painted wood, their noses I created out of clay. Their hats are felt, and their candy canes are dyed chenille. Each one was made with love.

Each one is a one-of-a-kind.

Even their cute felt hats were handmade, and their chenille candy canes were baked up right here on the farm.

I love every one of them... but if you'd like to have one for your very own, or perhaps you'd like to have one packaged up and shipped off to a friend as a secret santa gift, you can find them in my Etsy shop.

Here is a photo of one of them not on the tree.

Ho ho ho!

More Candy Cane Ornaments

I've been busy making more candy cane ornaments. I love them so!

I've listed a few of them in my Etsy shop.

I think you should adopt one. *grin*

*giggle*

Snowflake pajamas to help Miss Twiggy keep off the chill? Sure, why not!

"I'm a lucky dog!"