Winter Classes

It’s been a very busy holiday season!  Up until last week, there were classes virtually every day at Ramona’s store.  I typically teach once a week.  Here’s a sampling of my classes!

Iris folding is such a fun technique!  On two of the cards we used patterned scrapbooking paper.  The star was made with foil wrapping paper.  The photo doesn’t do it justice.  I know I will be saving some of the beautiful paper from my Christmas presents this year.  It will make for some stunning, very special Christmas cards for next year!

Anyone who knows me know that the Gamsol technique is my favorite way to color images.  I love the softness and shading that can be achieved.  Also, the ability to blend colors.  I tend to stamp several dozen images and then color them while I’m watching TV or DVDs with my family.

There is SO much you can do with punches.  Just a little imagination and some creativity and you can turn them into fun embellishments for cards and scrapbook pages.

Let It Snow was a series of snowflake cards.  Techniques featured in this class included clear embossing, glittering foam shapes, creating a tissue paper background, stamping with craft ink, embossing on vellum and stamping on clear acetate. 

The next two weeks are pretty quiet as far as classes are concerned but I have lots of ideas dancing in my head for the New Year!

Christmas Cards – Past & Present

Here’s a sampling of some of the Christmas Cards I’ve made!

Image embossed in gold & colored with Twinkling H2Os.

2 Step Stamping – White Craft Ink, Gold Metalic Ink & Gold Embossing.
Lots of wait time in between layers on this one!

Merry Christmoose – Image colored using colored pencils and Gamsol.
Red mat is dry embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.

Clear embossed snowflakes.
Snowman is colored with colored pencils and Gamsol.
Glittered accents.

Celebrate Your Inner Elf – Image colored with colored pencils and Gamsol.
Accented with glitter pen.

Image colored with colored pencils and Gamsol.
Pine bough has glittered accents.

Image colored with colored pencils & Gamsol.
Red mat is dry embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.

Image colored with colored pencils & Gamsol.
Accented with glitter.

Similar to first snowman card.  Silver glitter embossed snowflakes.
Image is colored with colored pencils and Gamsol.
Glitter accents.

Image colored with colored pencils and Gamsol.
Accented with glitter pen.

Pigment ink snowflake is clear embossed.

Skittle’s New Steps – Take 2

Not too long ago, my husband built new steps for Skittle, our 14 year old blind shih tzu.  Well you know what they say about the best laid plans. 

Skittle had been navigating them fairly well but then started going out the door and rather than going straight down the steps, would turn and topple off the side.  So back to Home Depot it was to get more wood to create a railing that would guide Skittle down the steps safely.

So here it is!  The new and improved version!  Skittle approved!

Aunt Pauline’s Ornament

One of our most special ornaments is one that was hand-crafted by my husband’s Aunt Pauline.  I didn’t have a chance to know her for very long before she passed away, but she was one of the most giving people I have ever met.  She didn’t have a lot, but she gave so much of herself to others.  Even when she was fighting cancer, her thoughts were with me and my husband when he was stuck in Germany while on military duty.

Over the years she was famous for her Easter egg hunts for her nieces and nephews, her little gifts and especially the canisters of homemade goodies she would give out at Christmas.  She always had something for everyone.  She would start baking in September so that she was sure to have plenty to share.  She covered coffee cans with holiday Contact paper and packed them full.  If you didn’t return your empty canister so that she could reuse it for next year, you forfeited your gift the following year.  Having grown up during the Great Depression, she recycled almost everything.

Her special ornaments were made from recycled flash cubes — the kind that were used with the old Kodak Instamatic cameras.  She would take them apart and use the shiny aluminum to create beautiful Christmas ornaments.  My husband isn’t into all the decorating like the kids and I am, but every year, this is the one ornament that he himself hangs on our tree.

We love and miss you Aunt Pauline but we know you are celebrating a Christmas much more beautiful than we can ever imagine with Jesus!

OMG Fudge!

My family has a number of Christmas traditions.  Some are old.  Some are new.  I have cookie recipes that date back 4 generations.  Each one of the ornaments on our tree has a story to go with it.  For a long time our Christmas dinner was traditionally non-traditional.  That was until a few years ago when we decided that fajitas with the festive red and green peppers should become our new traditional Christmas dinner.

One of our traditions that has evolved over the years is my husband’s fudge.  He has made fudge every since the first Christmas that we were together.  His recipe comes from the same one he remembers his mother making and putting him to work stirring when he was a little boy.  He’s made some modifications to her recipe and in more recent years started experimenting with different flavors.  This year, at his mother-in-law’s request, he gave white chocolate a try.

So here’s a look at how it all ended up…

This years flavors are:  Chocolate Peanut Butter, Chocolate Walnut, Dark Chocolate Raspberry, Dark Chocolate Mint, White Chocolate, White Chocolate Mint and White Chocolate Cherry.

OMG!  It’s all SO good!

IOD Christmas Party

Last week was our annual Ink Or Dye Christmas Party.  We met for dinner at a local Italian restaurant.  Good times and laughter filled the air.  Our waiter, Shawn, was amazing and even drew cartoons on each person’s take out container!

Instead of our usual stamped projects, we had a tag exchange.  So many creative ideas! 

Suffice it to say, a good time was had by all!