Christmas Lantern

I’ve been gone for a while and there is no excuse!  I’m not really sure what has been keeping me so busy lately, but I have been.

The peach tree in our back yard provided us with a bumper crop this year.  Compared to last year’s 5-peach harvest, if peaches were dollars we’d have a million.  After giving as many as we could away, eating many fresh ones, and making a cobbler and a pie, we’ve frozen about 23 quarts.  We started making peach jam with them this week.  As I write this, my husband is out back and is now picking a bumper crop of grapes from our grape vines. We again got very few last year.  (He insists on planting these kinds of things.)  He will be spending the day washing, bagging and freezing them until I can get to them for grape jelly at a later date.  I pray to God the apple tree he planted a few years ago never produces fruit! 🙂  We start with strawberries from a small strawberry patch (it continues to grow)  we have in June, cherries from our tree in July, August is peach month, then grapes…I don’t want apples, but…shhhhhhhhh!  Please don’t tell him I said that.  Oh, we can’t forget the tomatoes from the garden that make great pasta sauce!  All kidding aside, there is nothing like the taste of a freshly picked piece of fruit or vegetable.

I’m getting ready for a very busy end of the year beginning with next week.  I will be traveling without my husband to visit my daughter, her significant other, and my grand-daughter in Virginia Beach.  I am looking forward to the adventure as I have never been there before.  I mean, how could anyone not LIKE the beach!  From there, my daughter and I will drive with the baby to Ohio to visit my mother and the rest of our family.  We will celebrate Stella’s first birthday there.  We will celebrate it again when we return to Virginia with her other grandmother who is set to arrive two days before I head back home.

Two weeks after returning to Colorado, my sister and brother-in-law will be visiting for three weeks as we plan a road trip to Yosemite National Park…or whatever is left of it after the devastating wildfires in Northern California this summer.  I’m sure it will be fun!  There are always wineries and Reno, Nevada and Lake Tahoe are only an hour away from where we will be staying.

November means…you guessed it…a week in Orlando, Florida with my bestie Carol for Stampin’ Up!’s 30 Anniversary Celebration at On Stage Live!  Can’t wait! Can’t wait!  I’ll get home and I will be very thankful that I DO NOT have to make Thanksgiving dinner this year as we have been invited elsewhere.  So that means I’ll have a month to get ready for Christmas!  Hopefully January will not be too much of a let down.

So this little project I am sharing today has been in the works for a while.  I think I created it in July and decided to hold off awhile before sharing it.  But then things started happening and I was almost afraid I wouldn’t get it posted at all.  This is probably the best time for it, because it is well in advance of the Christmas holidays, which gives everyone time to react and actually make it.  I had intended on doing a video, but when I started I just couldn’t seem to get my act together.  Maybe it has been too long since my last one.  So, I opted to do this the old-fashioned way by doing a written tutorial with a million and one photos to guide you.

The inspiration for this came one day while I browsing that web site that sucks your time away before you even realize it…what’s it called…Pintrist! 🙂 I saw this photo of a Christmas lantern and wondered why I couldn’t make one myself?!

So, one Sunday afternoon, I closeted myself into my tiny stamp room (my husband forgot about me until dinner time) with a pad of grid paper and a ream (there are 500 sheets in a ream)  of cheep card stock on the desk in front of me. (I should have taken photos of my process, but I didn’t).    And this is what I ended with.

There is no stamping in this project.  Just a lot of measuring and cutting and gluing.  I am very pleased with how it turned out.  As I’ve mentioned before, sometimes I impress myself.  It is amazing what we can do when we set our mind to it!  And I think I realized in the creation of this lantern why I like paper crafting so much.  When I was  kid I didn’t do a lot of cutting and pasting, and making a big paper mess.  We weren’t allowed because my mother always said it was wasting.  “Don’t waste the tape!” or “Don’t waste the paper!” was what I heard.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not blaming Mom.  Times were different, money was tight.  Paper was needed for homework or school.  My mother grew up in Italy during World War II when you didn’t even think of coloring, or cutting, or pasting!

Any way…here are a few more photos and the link for the written tutorial.

If you have questions about it, please let me know.  I am willing to help.

Until next time…

Happy Stamping!

 

 

 

P.S.  I got the pine cones from a local craft store.  Or if you are lucky, you can go out to your own back yard.  🙂

Price: $110.00

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Mason Jar Paper Flower Terrarium

Monday, June 4, 2018

Yes!  I’ve been absent for quite a while and I am so glad that I’ve had the chance to stamp this past weekend and create something that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time.

My husband and I went home to Ohio and Pennsylvania to visit our families for the last week of April and the first week of May, and I’ve been going non stop ever since we got back into town on May 8th.  I’ve been babysitting my grand-daughter at least once each week since we got back; sometimes twice.  Each session includes a trip to Denver  to pick her up on Sunday afternoon, an overnight as my daughter works nights, (she’s an RN and her boyfriend moved to Virginia Beach to start his new job at the end of April). Sometimes it also includes a trip back up to Denver to return her to her mother on Monday.  The last few weeks, my daughter has been coming down to get her and then staying for a few days.  Getting in some of that last-minute mother/daughter/granddaughter time before they move at the end of June!   We forget quickly what it is like to get up at night with a baby and how much work it really is.  That is why we have our children while we are young!  I finally got her to sleep for the night and thought I’d spend some time on this blog post.  I probably won’t get it finished until tomorrow as I still need to photograph the project I created.  For the lack of a better name for this, I’m calling it my Mason Jar Paper Flower Terrarium.  I’m providing a brief written tutorial at the end of the post.

I wish I could claim this idea as my own, but I can’t .  I received one of these as a gift a few years ago from a friend and fellow demonstrator; Amanda Waugh.  I thought it was one of the neatest things I’d ever seen, so I decided to try my hand at making one of my own.  The one that Amanda gave me is the purple.   I love it and I love the colors.  Unfortunately all of the colors she used and the dies she used to cut out the flowers have retired, so when I started working on mine,  I had to improvise a little.  I think my terrarium turned out pretty well.  I have to admit, there were times during the process when I wasn’t sure what I would end up with, but I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Okay, so my daughter and grand-daughter have just left for home and I miss them already.  I probably won’t see them for two weeks because they are headed out on vacation on Monday.  Once they get back from vacation they will be packing up their home and will be  on their way to Virginia by the end of the month.  What am I going to do without my grand-daughter near by?  Or my daughter, for that matter.  🙁

I’ve finally photographed my project!

Isn’t it cute?!

Here are photos of the one my friend Amanda made.  She used a pint-sized wide mouth Mason jar instead of the quart-sized like mine.  I love the colors she chose for hers!  Purple is one of my favorite colors and I think I’m going to have to make a purple one next with some of the new purple shades Stampin’ Up! has.

 

I don’t believe Amanda used a styrofoam cone to build her flowers up.  It looks like she managed to crumple up paper and attach it to the jar lid.  I didn’t want to pull it apart to find out.  I love the one she made as much as mine…I think more.

I’m also including a photo of the sticky moss that I used to cover the styrofoam cone just so you know what it looks like.  In the list of supplies I specifically included a pair of “old” scissors which you will use to cut the sticky moss.  The scissors will get glue on them, that’s why I suggested “old” ones.

Here is the moss!  🙂

Well I hope you enjoyed your visit  today.  Hopefully it won’t be so long between this post and my next one.  Until next time…

Happy Stamping!

 

 

 

SUPPLIES:

  • Wide mouth Mason Jar with lid and ring
  • 6” Styrofoam cone
  • Mossy Mat Peen ‘n Stick Moss
  • Marker
  • Old pair of scissors (They will get gooey when you cut the Mossy Mat.)
  • Multipurpose liquid glue
  • Glitter Enamel Dots
  • Falling Flowers Stamp Set
  • Card Stock
    • Cajon Craze
    • Crushed Curry
    • Old Olive
  • Ink
    • Cajon Craze
    • Crushed Curry
  • 5/8” burlap ribbon
  • Tear & Tape
  • Glue Dots
  • Dimensionals
  • Stamping Sponges
  • Bouquet Bunch Framelits
  • May Flowers Framelits
  • Big Shot

ASSEMBLY:

  1. Cut off approximately 1” from the wide end of the Styrofoam cone. I used a cutting board and serrated kitchen knife.
  2. Cover the cone with a piece of the Peel ‘n Stick Mossy Mat.
  3. Trace a circle the size of the jar lid on a small piece of the Peel ‘n Stick Mossy Mat and cut it out. Attach it to the inside of the jar lid.
  4. Glue the base of the moss-covered cone to the moss-covered side of the jar lid and set it into the ring using the Multi-Purpose Liquid Glue
  5. Stamp flowers with the Falling Flowers Stamp Set and cut them out with the May Flowers Framelits. I cut eight each large and small flowers out of Crushed Curry and seven each of the large and small flowers out of Cajon Craze.  I also cut several flower bunches out of each color using the dies from the Bouquet Bunch Framelits.  Sponge around the edges in their coordinating color ink.
  6. Layer flowers, one small over one large, using a dimensional.
  7. Attach to moss-covered cone with Multipurpose Glue in random order.
  8. Add a Glitter enamel Dot to the center of each flower.
  9. Fill in spaces between the large flowers with the smaller ones.
  10. Cut five leaf branches using the smaller die from Bouquet Bunch Framelits out of Old Olive card stock and place randomly into the flowers.
  11. Carefully insert decorated cone into jar and screw lid tight. Since you glued a piece of moss to the lid, it will not tighten down completely
  12. Cut a piece of burlap ribbon to fit around the jar ring. Attach it with a piece of Tear & Tape.
  13. Tie a bow with a piece of ribbon and attach it with glue dots.

 

 

Price: $110.00

Shop online 24/7

http://www.fancyforstampin.stampinup.net

Christmas Pines/Floral Phrases Christmas card & Gift Box

Hey Stampers!

I have another video tutorial for you today.  You can tell that I am still getting over a cold that I got last week.    I spent three days on the couch last week and even took a nap on my bed one day.  I never do that!  Fortunately, I am feeling a lot better but there is still a little congestion.

I got the inspiration for this card and box on Pintrist.  I have to admit that I would have never thought of using the Floral Phrases Thinlits and the Botanical Builders Framelits dies for Christmas cards.  But I REALLY like the way these turned out.  As I mention in the video, the card is decorated exactly as you would the box.  So I only go over creating and decorating the box in this video.

christams-pines-floral-phrases-card-box

christmas-pines-floral-phrases-chirstmas-card-box

 

christmas-pines-floral-phrases-christmas-card

I hope to have another Christmas gift video for you in the near future.

Before I forget, check the very bottom of this post to see this month’s special offer from Stampin’ Up!   Ooooooo…you are gonna love it!

Hope you enjoy!

Until next time…

Happy Stamping!

Josie2

 

 

 

Printable PDF tutorial is here.

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Paisleys & Posies/Vintage Leaves: Three Fall Cards

Hello Stampers!

I hope everyone is doing well.  We are having a BEAUTIFUL autumn here in Colorado Springs.  The weather is warm and the colors are magnificent. They along with the colors on the Paisley & Petals Specialty Designer Series Paper have inspired me for the cards I am sharing today.

I’ve been working on this set of three tutorials for these three Fall cards for about a week and thought it was time to share it with all of you.  I’ve used two of my favorite stamp sets; Paisleys & Posies and Vintage Leaves.

Just a minor editing note:  I forgot to flip the third video so you wouldn’t have to watch me work upside down.  🙁 I realized this AFTER I deleted my raw footage.  Sorry.  If that bothers you, you could always do a little yoga and stand on your head while you watch.  🙂

As always, there is a printable tutorial for you to download at the end of this post. I hope you enjoy watching and making these cards as much as I did.

 

card-1-paisleys-posies-3-fall-cards

 

card-2-paisleys-posies_-three-fall-cards

 

card-3-paisleys-posies-three-fall-cards

 

Here is the link for the printable tutorial!

Until next time…

Happy Stamping!

 

Josie2

 

 

 

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Shop 24/7: http://www.fancyforstampin.stampinup.net

 

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